Police: Global Child Porn Ring Broken

L O N D O N, Jan. 10, 2001 -- British detectives said today that one of the world's largest Internet child pornography networks had been broken up in a joint operation inwhich 107 men were arrested in 12 countries.

A court near London heard that seven British men had admitted their part in the child pornography ring known as the Wonderland Club. They will be sentenced next month by Kingston crown court.

British police became aware of Wonderland after detectives in the United States investigating a pedophile network found a connection with three Britons.

Exclusive Club for Pedophiles

Detective Alex Wood, who headed the British inquiry, said: "Wonderland was a club set up by pedophiles worldwide and its chairman was Harry Mudd, an American who has since been brought to justice.

"The two main rules were that each member had to have at least 10,000 pictures of preteen kids and had to agree to exchange those images with other members."

Police discovered a total of 750,000 images of children during the course of their investigation.

Eight men in Britain were charged with conspiring to distribute pornographic images over the Internet. One killed himself after he was arrested and the others admitted to the charges.

Police said the conspiracy spread across Britain, the United States, a series of European countries and Australia. The 107 suspects were arrested in 1998.

A court order banning publication of the details of the case was lifted earlier today.