MikeLigalig.com

Agence France-Presse

THE HAGUE--A cross-border investigation into a Europe wide child-sex network has led to 92 arrests in eight countries, officials of the European prosecutor's organisation Eurojust told a press conference Monday.

Involving 18 European police forces and the Australian authorities, Operation Koala led to 40 arrests in Britain, 21 in France, 11 in Spain, eight in Sweden, five in Belgium, four in Italy, two in Iceland and one in Denmark.

"The inquiry is ongoing, it will result in further arrests," Eurojust president Michael Kennedy said.

Eurojust and the European police organization Europol coordinated the efforts to crack the group.

The main suspect was nabbed in Italy with 70,000 euros ($101,000) on him and large quantities of pedophilic materials. Italian police arrested him as he was apparently trying to leave for Ukraine where he has two homes -- and where the vast majority of the victims are from.

Often young girls aged nine to 16, the victims were lured into a Ukranian studio where photo shoots would become increasingly explicit and end with the victims being sexually abused, the investigation found.

According to Europol, 21 of the 23 victims were from the Ukraine. The other two were Belgian girls whose father forced them to take sexually explicit pictures. He was arrested last year.

Some 2,500 clients had subscribed to the Internet pedophilia network, the inquiry showed.

"To fill the gap between the 2,500 clients and 92 arrests is a matter of time," Eurojust's Kennedy said.

The findings were announced as pedophilia topped the agenda of a separate, four-day Interpol meeting that began Monday in Morocco. The international police organization is to decide whether to make greater use of public appeals for help in pedophilia or other investigations.


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