Hundreds of paedophiles netted in global sting
July 05, 2012
Hundreds of paedophiles prowling on the internet have been identified
in an operation in 141 countries, Austrian federal police said.
In
Austria alone, operation "Carole" found 272 suspects, making it the
biggest ever police sweep against child pornography in the small
country.
The investigations, which lasted almost a year, began in
Luxembourg when the operator of a root server based there reported two
websites containing large quantities of child pornography to the
authorities.
The website's files, indicating a worldwide
clientele, were seized by police and passed on to investigators in 141
countries, Austrian police said, without elaborating on the countries or
the number of people involved.
The 272 Austrian suspects, all
male and aged 17 to 70, came from all types of background and
professions, including teachers and kindergarten staff.
All of them were found in possession of paedophile images or videos.
The vast majority were consumers, but in two cases actual abuse of children could be proven, police said.
Searches at the suspects' homes turned up vast amounts of material, which were currently being examined.
In March 2011, a Europol sweep identified 670 suspects and made 184 arrests in what was then the biggest case of its kind.
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