Reply #19: 700 arrested in Internet child sex operation

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/NEWS07/70618009&&imw=Y

31 kids rescued, 700 arrested in Internet child sex operation
June 18, 2007

ASSOCIATED PRESS


UPDATED AT 11 A.M.: British police, with aid from U.S. investigators, have shattered a global Internet pedophile ring, rescuing 31 children and rounding up more than 700 suspects worldwide, authorities said today.

Some 200 suspects are based in Britain, said the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center. Authorities would not say where other suspects came from.

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The ring was traced to an Internet chat room called “Kids the Light of Our Lives” that featured images of children being subjected to sexual abuse — including on streaming live videos.


Police rescued 31 children, some of them only a few months old. More than 15 of the children were in Britain, the child protection center said, declining to elaborate. Authorities would not say where the other children were from.



Officials did say the United States, Canada and Australia were Britain’s main partners in the investigation, which involved agencies from 35 countries and lasted more than 10 months.

Authorities said they used surveillance tactics normally used against terrorism suspects and drug traffickers to infiltrate the pedophile ring at its highest level.

The host of the Web site, Timothy Cox, 27, of Buxhall, who used the online identity “Son of God,” admitted to nine counts of possessing and distributing indecent images, authorities said. He was given an indeterminate jail sentence today at a court in eastern England. That means he will remain in prison until authorities determine he is no longer a threat to children.


Forensic teams examining Cox’s computer found 75,960 indecent and explicit images in addition to evidence that he had supplied 11,491 images to other site users.


After his arrest in September, authorities were able to infiltrate the chat room and collect evidence on the other members.

"Today’s verdict serves as a powerful warning to those using the Internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children,” said Jim Gamble, the child protection center’s chief executive.