MAJOR CRACKDOWN ON CHILD PORN SEES FOUR OPERATIONS COME TO A CLOSE

The National Police have arrested and charged 12 people in four operations across eleven Spanish cities, including Malaga, Seville and Almeria against possessing and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

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During these operations, there were 20 homes in different parts of the country, such as Barcelona, Castellón, Valencia, Malaga, Murcia, Asturias, Ceuta, Tenerife, Madrid, Seville and Almeria, as reported by the Police Headquarters of the Comunitat Valenciana. Their statement said these operations were initiated by complaints from citizens in various police stations in Valencia, Torrente, and Burjasot when files were found on Internet paedophilia.

In these four cases, agents of the Group of the Technology Crime Police Headquarters in Valencia analysed the content of the images and carried out the necessary investigations to determine the author of distribution through the network, focusing on the location of users who might be sharing these files in file-sharing networks. Officers were then able to locate several users who were offering the files to other people making a clear reference to child pornography content.

In the first operation, called ‘Murmur’, there were four records in the cities of Barcelona, Castellón, Valencia and Malaga, during which three people were arrested and one more was cautioned. The agents recovered a computer, 19 hard disks and images and videos of child pornography. The operation, which ended recently, lasted 20 months.

The later operation, known as the ‘Clip’ which ended this January, has resulted in five house searches in Ceuta, Valencia, Murcia, Malaga and Asturias, in which three people were arrested and have been attributed to two more. The police intervened and two computers, six hard disks, 118 DVDs and CDs, pictures and videos of child pornography were seized. Operation ‘Clip’ began 19 months ago, in June 2009.

Operation ‘Crack’ conducted seven house searches in Tenerife (2), Madrid (2), Barcelona, Malaga and Murcia and arrested four people and charged three others. In this case, ten crimes were clarified over the distribution of child pornography and eleven crimes of possession of child pornography.

The last of the operations known as ‘Virtual’ finished this week and has seen four house searches in the cities of Seville, Madrid, Barcelona and Almería. They have arrested two people and two others have been charged.