Int'l child porn ring found in New Zealand

Int'l child porn ring found in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- An international Internet child porn ring with links to Europe and the United States has been uncovered in Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs has laid chargesafter seizing a computer containing 190,000 pornographic images, mainly of children, believed to be at the centre of the network, theNew Zealand Press Association (NZPA) reported Friday.

United States customs officials will visit New Zealand next weekas part of their investigations into the ring, it said.

It is understood the computer was being used to host websites where customers paid to access pornographic photographs and movies.

The network had hundreds of customers in the United States and Europe.

Denise Ritchie, national co-ordinator of Ecpat, a group fightingchild pornography, was quoted as saying that the discovery of a ringbased in New Zealand is "no surprise."

"This has not just turned up on our door step. The trade in childpornography is not as isolated as one may think."

The child pornography business is prolific worldwide and rings ofthis size reflect the realities of supply and demand, she said.Ritchie urged the government and judiciary to take a harder line onthe possession and distribution of child pornography to stop itsspread.