Afghanistan busts porn ring

2008-06-12 19:18

Kabul - A criminal group which abducted and raped schoolchildren then recorded the abuse to make pornographic videos has been busted in the Afghan capital Kabul, intelligence officials said on Thursday.

The group of four people had kidnapped five children below the age of 12 as they went home from school in the city, said a spokesperson for the Afghan National Directorate of Security.

"They were abducting children, were raping them and were video recording the sexual abuse for networks they were in contact with," Sayed Ansari told reporters.

Ansari said the men had confessed to their crimes.

Separately agents also raided a house where kidnappers kept a man they abducted for ransom in an overnight raid on Wednesday.

The agents killed the group leader and arrested two others, one of them a woman, Ansari said.

The agency on Sunday also arrested the leader of another cell specialising in kidnappings for ransom, named as Mohammad Malik, with two associates, Ansari said.

Abduction for ransom has increased over the past year in troubled Afghanistan, mainly in the western Herat province and the capital Kabul.

- AFP