Police uncover international child-porn ring

SAO PAULO (AP):

Brazilian police said yesterday they have broken up a ring that used Internet file sharing to distribute child pornography in at least 34 countries.

Inspector Diana Calazans Mann told reporters the files exchanged by members of the group were "very repugnant", She said there were images of "infants, children and teenagers being sexually abused".

"We were extremely shocked by the images," she added. "I have never seen anything as bad."

Another officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said 15 arrest warrants had been issued in Brazil and that at least 12 people had been arrested.

Those arrested could be charged with production and distribution of pornographic images of children and teenagers, the officer said, and face the possibility of as much as six years in jail.

He also said investigators also found "accounts written by members of the ring describing acts of cannibalism, as well as the rape of children by their parents, kidnaps and murders". He said police "are trying to determine if they describe actual events or are the fruit of the imaginations of those who wrote them and posted them on their internet chat accounts".