20 arrested in child pornography operations

TWENTY people were arrested and a further 15 charged for distributing child pornography.

In two Guardia Civil operations covering 19 provinces throughout Spain, officers seized computer equipment and collections of videos and photos of minors which were shown and shared on websites for paedophiles.

The first investigation began after Guardia Civil in Madrid detected several sites containing files with child porn and software for locating and downloading such files. Several people users of the site were located and 17 men aged between 21 and 69 were arrested. They were charged with prostitution and corruption of minors. Thirteen others were charged.

The second operation was launch following a complaint to the Guardia Civil in Cadiz from a man who, thinking he was downloading a file with music, found it contained images of child porn. The users who shared the files were located and three people were arrested. Another two were charged.

The arrests were carried out in Madrid, Alicante, Barcelona, Cadiz, Guipuzcoa, Huelva, Mallorca, Leon, Malaga, Murcia, Navarra, Asturias, Salamanca, Sevilla, Tenerife, Valladolid, Las Palmas, Valencia and Zaragoza.