Up to 12,000 could face child porn charges (Roundup)

Dec 24, 2007, 12:11 GMT

Berlin - Up to 12,000 people could face charges of possessing child pornography following a major police campaign in Germany, media reports said Monday.

More than 300 people alone in the east German state of Saxony Anhalt could face charges following a long-running German-wide police action against child pornography, a prosecutor's office spokesman said confirming a report in the daily Mitteldeutschen Zeitung.

Police said on Friday that about 1,700 people across Germany have been accused of possessing child pornographic material.

Code named Heaven, the police action has lasted several months with officers having seized a large amount of material.

But on Monday, German public radio reported that the number of suspects could total as many as 12,000.

The charges follow investigations into a internet operator based in Berlin which registered a heavy traffic in data.