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Child molestations shown live
15/03/2006 22:54 - (SA)
Chicago - United States and Canadian law-enforcement officials said on Wednesday they had cracked an iinternational pornography ring that featured live molestations of children streamed on the internet.
Twenty-seven people from nine US states and Canada, Australia and Britain have been charged with possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography, and all but one have been arrested, according to US federal authorities and Canadian police.
One of those arrested has been held since January, while others were arrested as recently as Tuesday.
The one who remains at large is considered a fugitive, said officials.
"This international undercover investigation revealed an insidious network that engaged in worldwide trafficking in child pornography, including live molestations of children transmitted on the internet," said US attorney-general Alberto Gonzales.
Authorities have identified seven child victims, including an infant whose molestation in April by a suburban Chicago man was transmitted live via an internet chat room to a co-conspirator who used the screen name "Big_Daddy619".
Four of those charged allegedly molested the children, making the resulting images available in a chat room called "Kiddypics & Kiddyvids", that facilitated trading of thousands of images and videos, said Gonzales.
Manufacturing child pornography carries a minimum 15-year prison sentence, while the other charges call for minimum sentences of at least five years.
- Reuters
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