Spain 'busts child pornography network' Published duration 8 October 2010

Police have arrested 57 people over child pornography allegations in Spain, including business owners and local police officers, the authorities say.

Those detained in recent days include a gardener who had filmed relatives aged seven and 14 in sexual poses.

Another 47 people have been placed under investigation as part of the same inquiry.

The police said they carried out almost 100 raids across Spain after uncovering a file-sharing network.

The operation used software developed by Norwegian police to detect people exchanging child pornography on peer-to-peer networks, which allow users to exchange files online directly between computers.

The network was shut down three days after it was uncovered, the police said.

Among those detained were two local police officers - one in the Basque region and one in the southern area of Andalusia.

The authorities described it as one of the biggest raids in years.