FED: Police officer, QC part of child abuse network
By Simon Jenkins and Virginia Matthews11 Dec 2008 5:24 PM
CANBERRA, Dec 11 AAP - A retired QC from Victoria, a police officer from NSW and a childcare worker are among those arrested as part of an investigation into a global internet child abuse ring.
More than 15,000 videos and 500,000 images of child abuse, described by police as being among the worst they have seen, have been seized as a result of the 12-month investigation.
The images and video, shared between members of an online peer-to-peer network, include the sexual abuse of children as young as 12 months old.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Resistance, has so far resulted in the arrest of 19 men across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, while three others have been identified as persons of interest. More arrests are likely in the coming days.
Two children in NSW had been removed from contact with alleged offenders.
Those arrested were among 200 people from 70 countries named as persons of interest following an investigation by Brazilian authorities, the Australian Federal Police said.
"The videos seized as part of this operation have to be among the worst we have seen," AFP acting deputy commissioner of operations Andrew Colvin said.
"Some depicted sexual abuse of children lasting more than two hours," he said.
Mr Colvin said those arrested were from a range of employment backgrounds and include a QC, a childcare worker and a police officer.
Their names would not be released at this stage, a police spokeswoman told AAP.
The matter involving the police officer is before the courts.
"I believe he may be back at court this week, but I don't think it would be appropriate for me to go into any detail at this stage," Mr Colvin said.
It was unclear as to whether any of the children in the video or images were Australian, he said.
"At this stage those enquiries are still on-going."
"In this case we haven't located any children that were depicted in these videos or these images in Australia."
A Sydney man charged in connection to the abuse network is facing charges after allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl on several occasions.
Richard Ngong Fung Lee, 24, was arrested at his Blakehurst home on Wednesday after allegedly accessing child pornography on his computer.
Police say he is one of the 22 Australian men linked to Operation Resistance.
Lee on Thursday appeared in Sydney's Central Local Court, where he faced two child pornography charges and six child sex charges.
It is alleged Lee had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl over a 17-month period from April 1, 2007 until September this year.
Lee is due to face the same court again on December 17.
