Sixteen Australian men have been arrested on charges related to the distribution and possession of child pornography, police said Monday. The men were arrested in five states over the past month and are believed to be part of a global child pornography network, said Neil Gaughan, Australian Federal Police high tech crime operations manager. Each man is accused of downloading a sexually explicit video involving a young girl, Gaughan said. They did not know each other. The operation was triggered by information received from police in the southwestern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in December, Gaughan said.
Baden-Wuerttemberg police announced in April that they had broken up an international child pornography ring involving alleged users in some 91 nations, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States. A total of 44 charges have been filed against the 16 Australians, Gaughan said. Possession of child pornography in Australia carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison.
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