80 questioned in Nordic child porn raid

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 16 (UPI) -- Raids on an alleged child pornography ring in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland have resulted in 80 people being questioned, Swedish officials say.

The Swedish National Police Board issued a statement Tuesday saying many of those questioned have confessed to downloading and uploading images of child pornography on their computers, the English-language Swedish Web site The Local reported Tuesday.

"The raid has been under preparation during the entire spring in cooperation with our Nordic colleagues and eleven local Swedish police authorities," Stefan Kronqvist of the IT-crimes section of Sweden's National Investigation Department said in the statement. "The preparations have worked very well and we're going to continue with our Nordic cooperation."

Department spokesman Varg Gyllander told the TT news agency that one Swede had been arrested in the crackdown, "but I can't say any more because the operation is ongoing," he added.

The raid was reportedly called Operation Viking and was cloaked in strict secrecy to ensure suspects don't destroy evidence.