19 arrested in Spain in int'l operation against child pornography

Spanish Civil Guards confirmed the arrest of 19 people on Monday as part of an international operation against child pornography.

The 19 arrests for the possession and distribution of images which show abuse and sexual exploitation of minors were made in 13 different provinces covering virtually all part of the country.

The operation in Spain was launched thanks to information received from the American working group at the Cybercrime unit of Interpol alerting that Spanish internet users were exchanging files with images and videos of the sexual abuse of minors.

As well as the 19 arrests in Spain, the joint operation saw a further 60 people arrested in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, with over 200 searches carried out in 47 cities.

Investigators are now analyzing hundreds of thousands of files in order to try and identify the victims, many of whom could still be suffering abuse.

The Spanish Civil Guard confirms that 14 minors in Spain and two in Colombia have already been identified as a result of the operation.

Many of the victims were first contacted through a "well known" social networking site and continue to work to discover if this child pornography network has links to others. Endit