Italian police break child porn web ring

An investigation into an internet porn ring in Italy has led to 1,146 people being implicated, among them police officers, businessmen and members of the armed forces.

Although no arrests have yet been made, police confirmed that raids in about 80 towns throughout the country had led to the seizure of over 280 computers along with over 5,000 floppy disks and 4,000 digital images.

Four thousand videotapes were also seized, according to reports.

Most of the images seized are said to be of minors, particularly from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Police said they suspect that the ring is being facilitated through Russian banks.

Users were accessing the material through four US-based internet service providers. Police infiltrated the ring by intercepting over 1,000 emails between suspects.

Police said that the year-long inquiry started when a camera containing pornographic images was taken into a repair shop.