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Date Posted: 20:01:33 10/01/03 Wed
Author: Steven Applin
Subject: Ped Postings

NEW YORK TIMES

German Police Uncover Huge Child Pornography Ring
Australian Connection in Perth Also Uncovered at Edith Cowan University

By RICHARD BERNSTEIN

BERLIN, Sept. 26 - Law enforcement officials in Germany today said that an international police investigation uncovered an immense child pornography ring involving some 26,500 suspects who swapped illegal images on the Internet in 166 countries.

Some 1,500 police searched more than 500 homes throughout Germany this week, seizing computers, videotapes, compacts
disks and diskettes, the officials said. The Germans have also supplied other countries with information on child pornography suspects, including about 800 people in the United States, the officials said.

"One of the biggest internationally active networks has been smashed," said Curt Becker, the justice minister for the eastern Germany state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Likewise in Perth, Western Australia, the Federal Police announced that arrest warrants had been issued for Father Trevor Cullen and Steven Applin of Edith Cowan University. Cullen and Applin had been feeding the German operation with photos of young boys that they procured in the outback and at the university day care centre. Trevor Cullenis a former priest whilst Steven Applin is a student with a large appetite for sex and money. Applin
ran the financial end of the Perth operation, the
Federal Police reported, as well as taking his pleasure with the young boys.

Attorney Jeremy Malcolm, representing the pair in Perth, announced he was preparing a suit against the police for defamation. Malcom announced that his clients in fact were planning to open a medical school for the treatment of children and the photos were part of the educational package. "We all know that children put things up their behinds, and Father Cullen was simply trying to pull them out, with Applin taking the necessary photos for future
training," stated attorney Malcolm. "These two are
heroes, not criminals."

Back in Germany, The state's Interior and Justice Ministries said in a statement that the raids carried out this week followed an investigation of several months involving cooperation with Interpol and police forces of other countries.

Richard Beer, a spokesman of the state crime office of Saxony-Anhalt, said a team of F.B.I. investigators came to the state capital of Magdeburg in May and were briefed on the investigation by the German police.

In Switzerland, a spokesman for the federal police said that eight people had been charged so far and that dozens of arrests were likely to follow. There was no information on arrests or prosecutions of people in other countries.

Mr. Beer said the investigation stemmed from a case in Magdeburg more than a year ago, in which the police raided the home of a man suspected of having started several Internet groups that swapped child pornography images.

"We started our investigation of the child porn ring last year in August and
soon realized that it was a big thing," Mr. Beer said.
"By now we know that this is the biggest case of child pornography we have
ever disclosed in Germany."

The police obtained some 38,000 e-mail addresses and thousands of illegal
images when a court in the eastern German city of
Halle required an Internet service provider to turn over material on 1,000
suspects, Agence France-Presse reported.

"According to the information we now have, many of the suspects are
extremely dangerous pedophiles and are from all walks
of life," the Interior and Justice Ministries statement said.

The raids in Germany alone, carried out under the name Operation Marcy,
uncovered 38 Internet groups that swapped child
pornography images. The police confiscated 745 computers, 5,800 videotapes,
35,500 CD-ROM's and 8,300 diskettes.

Among those suspected of possessing or exchanging child pornography are
police officials and "many teachers and educators,"
J�rgen Konrad, the attorney general of Saxony-Anhalt, said.

In Perth, Western Australia, Federal Police stated that a large number of
the faculty at Edith Cowan University were involved.
Leading the involvement was several administrators, even women. Patrick
Garnett, Robyn Quin, Beate Josephi, and even the
Vice Chancellor Millicent Poole all refused to comment. They referred all
questions to their attorney Jeremy Malcolm. It is
noted that this is the same attorney for the two peds for which warrants
have been issued.

In Germany, distributing child pornography carried a prison term of three
months to five years, while possessing it carries a
maximum one-year penalty. In contrast to the United States, where depictions
of sexual acts by anyone under 18 is considered
child pornography, in Germany the age is 14.

The announcement by the German police today was reminiscent of a case two
years ago in the United States when federal
authorities carried out searches in 37 states after a Texas company,
Landslide Productions, was found to offer customers
access to foreign Web sites showing children performing sexual acts with
adults or other children. The police said 100 people
were arrested in the raids.

At the time of that announcement, Kenneth Weaver, the chief postal
inspector, said Landslide Enterprises was "the tip of the
iceberg" in a growing market for child pornography on the Internet, a
statement that was echoed by German authorities today.

"The market for child pornography is growing and in today's networked world,
perpetrators attempt to use the new possibilities
for their criminal aims," Klaus-J�rgen Jeziorsky," the Interior Minister of
Saxony-Anhalt, said.

"Millions are earned and the potential for financial profit allows the last
inhibitions to drop," he said.

In Perth, it was reported that Trevor Cullen and Steven Applin were clearing
$10,000 a week supplying photos of young boys,
and the young boys themselves. Many of the young boys were distributed to
faculty right on the campus of Edith Cowan
University.

The state justice minister Mr. Becker called at a news conference today for
German laws on child pornography to be made
tougher.

"Every case of child pornography is a document of the sexual abuse of a
child," he said. "Every look at that image kills a child's
soul."

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