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Surrey Police raid child porn suspects
Operation Ore continues
Police searched 27 addresses in Surrey over the weekend as officers targeted people suspected of downloading child abuse images from the Net.
Some 180 officers took part in the raids and seized 86 computer systems and more than 3,000 CD-ROMs and videos. These will now be examined to see if any charges are to be brought against those served with search warrants.
Although no arrests were made over the weekend, Surrey police said that arrests would be likely once the evidence has been examined by forensics. Many of those searched by police were part of the force's continuing investigation into Operation Ore.
Operation Ore began in the UK some 18 months ago after the FBI turned over the details of 7,200 British child porn suspects to UK police. The list contains names, addresses and credit card details of UK subscribers to an American child porn aggregator. Members paid £21 a month to Landslide Productions of Texas, for access to 300 child porn sites. Around 250,000 people worldwide had paid to access this material.
Operation Ore originally identified 219 suspects in Surrey and following the raids at the weekend, all 219 cases have now been completed or are under examination.
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Russell said: "My priorities are protecting children from abuse; it is easy to forget that behind each of the images that are downloaded, there is a real little boy or girl being abused.
"The expertise developed by officers engaged on Operation Ore has been used as the basis for a new Investigation Unit in Surrey. Our work to protect children from abuse and bring these offenders to justice will continue." ®
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