Police have arrested 120 people suspected of possession and distribution of child pornographic in a nation-wide sting in Poland. 

Under the code name Operation Roksana, police confiscated 112 computers, 47 hard drives, almost 7,500 CDs and DVDs, discs, VHS cassettes, photographic equipment and mobile phones in the raids. 

The operation was initiated by police from the central city of Radom who detected pedophiles sharing pornographic files with indecent images of children using peer-to-peer technology. Officers from Radom, working together with the Polish Police Headquarters team combating human trafficking, managed to determine over 100 addresses of those suspected of paedophilia.

“It was a carefully planned operation, which required the coordination of several hundred policemen from all over the country, who participated in it”, said Karol Jakubowski from the Polish Police Headquarters.  

Two of the detained have already been charged with filming and distributing pornographic material of minors. In Poland possession of pornographic material containing images of those under the age of 15 years can garner up to 5 years in prison, while the distribution of child pornography nets an 8-year prison sentence.  

Operation Roksana is the first country-wide anti-paedophile sting operation carried out this year. In 2009, policemen from the Polish Police Headquarters team combating human trafficking conducted eight major anti-paedophile operations, detaining 473 people and confiscating 600 computers and 42,000 CDs and DVDs. (mg)