Hong Kong's first police operation against the possession of child pornography led to the arrests of 18 people yesterday, including a civil servant and finance and information technology professionals.
More than 70 officers were deployed in the operation, codenamed Stormrider, said Vincent Wong Fook-chuen, chief superintendent of the Commercial Crime Bureau.
It was the first such operation under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance, passed last year. Before that, the possession of child pornography was not an offence in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong police co-operated with enforcement agencies in other countries to shut down an overseas website. The records found at the website helped them arrest the 18 men, aged between 23 and 51.
'At [the suspects'] homes, we found a large amount of child pornography material, including pictures and movies, totalling 2,580 items. We also found 237 optical discs and 16 computers containing the material,' said Superintendent Wong. 'The operation is still continuing.'
The arrested men were suspected of browsing and downloading child pornography from the website, he said.
