<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>More Australia child porn arrests


</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> Some of the material seized dated back 20 years

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->The first Australians charged after a huge child pornography crackdown appeared in court on Friday, as police warned further arrests were likely.

A married schoolteacher was among the first in court - with other teachers, police officers and a child care centre owner also facing charges.

More than 200 people have already been arrested in the country's largest porn crackdown, which began on Thursday.

As many as 500 Australians could eventually be charged, police said.

A 33-year-old married schoolteacher appeared in a Sydney court on Friday, charged with 22 child pornography offences.

The teacher, whose name has not been disclosed, is accused of a variety of offences including setting up a video camera behind a school changing room mirror to film children.

Meanwhile 11 other men - including at least two teachers - have appeared in a court in Perth to face charges connected with internet pornography.



<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg>NATIONWIDE ARRESTS

1: Queensland - 55
2: New South Wales - 42
3: Australian Capital Territory - unknown number
4: Victoria - unknown number
5: Tasmania - unknown number
6: South Australia - 7
7: Western Australia - 21
8: Northern Territory - 9

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Three childcare centres in Victoria have been placed in the hands of an administrator, because their owner - named by police as Scott Thompson - faces pornography charges.

Arrests continued across Australia on Friday, with more than 200 people now charged with a total of 2,000 offences.

But Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty warned: "It's almost certain that there will be further arrests."

"This operation has provided us information in the order of in excess of 500 Australians accessing the material," he told Australian radio.

Mr Keelty said police had already issued 400 search warrants, and more were expected in the coming days.

The Australian crackdown is part of a worldwide investigation, spearheaded by the US Customs service and also involving Interpol, Mr Keelty said.

The investigation started last year as a result of US intelligence based on information from a network of internet sites in Russia and eastern Europe.

Kyle Hutchins, the special agent in charge of the US investigation, said he was able to give names of suspected offenders to Australian officials, as well as "locations, credit card information and then what exactly these people actually downloaded''.

The information launched police raids on homes across Australia, and more than 2m images were seized.



Government shock

Prime Minister John Howard promised new legislation, if needed, to fight child pornography on the internet.

"The thing that perhaps shocks me most of all is the way in which it has spread across different sections of the community," he said.

Mr Howard's main challenger in the upcoming federal election, Labor leader Mark Latham, told Sky News that those guilty of pornography must be brought to account. "It's absolutely disgusting, I couldn't think of anything sicker than what these people have done," he said. <!-- E BO -->


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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3706124.stm