Dutch police uncover US child porn sites

September 01, 2011|Associated Press

AMSTERDAM - Dutch police have uncovered huge caches of child pornography on hidden websites, including four based in the United States, prosecutors said yesterday.

The discovery was made as part of the investigation into a suspected pedophile identified only as Robert M. who was arrested in Amsterdam last year. He is accused of abusing dozens of children while he worked in Amsterdam preschools.

The Dutch police’s National Investigations Office said in a statement it had managed to infiltrate several “hidden services’’ sites internationally where users can surf the Internet and communicate anonymously.

There, they found some 220,000 child pornography photos and videos.

Four of the websites were housed on two servers based in the United States. Investigators managed to break into them and access images as well as online chats that included identifying details of users of the sites. The details are being turned over to the FBI.

A prosecution spokesman said no arrests have yet been made as a result of the discovery. Prosecutors said they saved the images as evidence before deleting them from the servers.

One of the hidden sites police discovered was called “Violent Desires.’’

“As well as child pornography, it contained a discussion forum that included chats about abducting, abusing, and killing children,’’ prosecutors said.

They also gained access as visitors to 11 sites containing child pornography.

Robert M. was arrested last December. Prosecutors said he has confessed to dozens of sex crimes inflicted on boys and girls aged under 4.

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