German police used the help of the nation's 14 credit card companies to track down 322 men suspected of subscribing to an illegal child pornography website based abroad, authorities said on Tuesday.
Saxony-Anhalt state Interior Minister Holger Hoevelmann told a news conference in Magdeburg, west of Berlin, the 14 credit card companies had screened transactions of all 22 million credit card holders in Germany to track down the 322 suspects.
The suspects all paid $79.99 for 20-day access to the illegal website last summer. Hoevelmann said most of the suspects, tracked down in all 16 German states, admitted to the crime. About 10% were repeat offenders. Most lived alone.
"We're grateful to the credit card firms that provided their assistance and found the 322 cases themselves," he said. "As far as data protection regulations are concerned, everything was done according to the law."
It was the biggest credit card screening in German history. Authorities said the credit card companies had voluntarily cooperated with the investigation they codenamed "Mikado". Hoevelmann said the raid would serve as a warning.
"Potential criminals should be aware: we'll catch them all," he said. Authorities said they could not track down the exact supplier of the child pornography overseas but said they were able to trace the country of origin - the Philippines.
In their raids, police confiscated evidence such as print outs of photographs and computers with several thousand data carriers containing child pornography.
The suspects will be charged and face anything from a fine to up to two years in jail, depending on any previous convictions.
