New Delhi: US federal authorities have busted an online child porn racket and have charged 27 people for running the organised online crime ring.
According to authorities, participants in an international Internet chat room transmitted live visuals of child molestation and traded thousands of pictures of child pornography.
The youngest child seen in pictures or video transmitted on Kiddypics & Kiddyvids was less than 18 months old, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in announcing the results of the 10-month investigation.
In an investigation led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Homeland Security Department, investigators identified seven children who were molested on the video.
Thirteen people have been indicted in nine states on charges that include possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography.
The states are: Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee.
The other 14 have been charged in Australia, Canada and Britain. One person remains at large. The investigation began with an arrest in Edmonton last May.
Undercover agents gained entry to the chat room and identified the 27 people, initially through their screen names, officials said.
One of those arrested in the US also include Brian A Annoreno of Chicago, who prosecutors say molested an infant and transmitted it live to a viewer in the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta.
Police say four Australians have also been arrested.
The Australian Federal Police's online child sex exploitation team had already charged a 56-year-old man from Mill Park in Victoria and a 22-year-old man from Stafford, Queensland.
The two were charged with using a carriage service for child pornography material and possession of child pornography material.
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