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72 charged in child-pornography ring

Published:Thursday | August 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Attorney General Eric Holder listens at left as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, yesterday, to discuss the results of the largest US prosecution of an international criminal network organised to sexually exploit children. - AP

WASHINGTON (AP):

Seventy-two people have been charged with participating in an international child-pornography network that prosecutors say used an online bulletin board called Dreamboard to trade tens of thousands of images and videos of sexually abused children.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said yesterday, a 20-month law-enforcement effort called Operation Delego targeted more than 600 Dreamboard members around the world for allegedly participating in the private, members-only Internet club created to promote paedophilia.

Numerous participants in the network sexually abused children ages 12 and under, produced images and video of the abuse, and then shared it with other club members, according to court papers released in the case.

At a news conference at the Justice Department, the attorney general called the criminal activity a "nightmare" for the children."

Some of the children featured in the images and videos were just infants, Holder said.