Italian police say they have broken up a child abuse ring used to share illicit material, including photos of newborns, via an instant messaging platform.
Police said on Saturday that the crackdown involved dozens of search warrants and led to the arrest of three people for allegedly possessing what was described in a statement as “huge quantities of pornographic material depicting minors”. About 50 people are under investigation.
The police statement said investigators had discovered photos of nude minors and other “horrifying content, depicting actual sexual violence where the victims were often newborns”.
Police said some of the images had been produced at home. Material was exchanged on an instant messaging platform that investigators did not identify except to say it was well-known.