A tip from U.S. customs and immigrations officials led to a massive child porn raid in Denmark in which a reported 100 officers hit numerous homes, detained at least 101 men, and covered a reported 39 out of Denmark's 54 police districts – the first time Danish law enforcement had ever performed such raids.
The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement passed Denmark's National Police Computer Crime Unit information about 119 people living in Denmark and using credit cards to buy Website access that included child porn imagery. The credit card numbers helped Danish police identify the users for the raid, which covered all 119 homes and included police seizing 149 computers, according to the Associated Press.
Adult Sites Against Child Pornography executive director Joan Irvine lauded the effort. "It is good to see that law enforcement agencies are finally cooperating to apprehend these criminals, as these crimes are occurring on an international basis," she told AVNOnline.com. "Through [our] hotline, ASACP researched and provided information to the FBI and NCMEC about how affiliate programs were unknowingly being used by these criminals."
The National Police told reporters 26 of the suspects admitted buying child porn online, with those suspects ranging in age from their mid-20s to their mid-60s. One reportedly confessed to distributing such images on the Internet while another reportedly admitted to building ten Websites with the images he downloaded.
Each suspect faces a maximum six years in prison under Danish law, the AP said, but National Police Commissioner Torsten Hesselbjerg told the news wire most would likely get fines because they only visited the sites a few times, with some paying $24 for site access.
Irvine predicted international law enforcement cooperation on child porn cases will increase in the coming year. "From what ASACP have learned as hotline provider, working with the authorities and attending INHOPE.org meetings, there will be much more cooperation between international law enforcement agencies," she said. "It just takes a while for some countries to work through all the bureaucracy and be willing to share information and the lead in such investigations."
