Nineteen Danish men have been arrested for the possession and distribution of child pornography, national broadcaster DR has reported.
The arrests were part of a European-wide bust led by Danish domestic intelligence agency PET, which was code-named ‘Operation Icarus’. Europol director Rob Wainright told the BBC that 112 suspects across 22 European countries had been arrested.
The Danish part of the operation resulted in 59 computers and over 2,000 external media storage devices being seized nationwide.
One of the arrested men had roughly 29 terabytes of child pornography material, which could translate into over 9,000 hours of video, national police commissioner Jens Henrik Højberg said.
Europol said the seized material included images and video of babies and toddlers being sexually assaulted and raped.
Additional arrests are expected in the case, and the ongoing investigation will be aimed at the manufacturers of the material and the perpetrators of the filmed assaults.
The 19 arrestees were described by police as men between the ages of 24 and 55.
Operation Icarus began earlier this year. The Danish police force was chosen to co-ordinate the action, based on its previous expertise in child pornography and a database that can recognise and categorise previously seen material.
