Italian police said Friday they had conducted a “large-scale” national operation to dismantle an online child pornography ring, arresting 34 individuals and conducting searches in over 50 cities.
Tens of thousands of illegal computer files were found on seized computers, following 115 searches of homes and computers, in the culmination of a “long and complex investigation”, police in Catania, Sicily, said in a statement.
The undercover operation allowed postal police officers to identify several groups on what it called a “well-known” instant messaging platform.
The groups were “dedicated to the exchange of child pornography, with children abused as infants and episodes of bestiality with minor victims”, said the statement.
Most suspects used encryption systems to cover their tracks, making their identification difficult.
The arrested were all male, aged between 21 and 59, from all socio-economic backgrounds, and residing throughout Italy, police said.
Two of the suspects themselves had produced photographs and videos of sexual abuse with underage victims, as well as possessing “thousands of child pornography files”.
Police are now working to try to identify the victims.
