Police set web trap to net paedophiles

Police have set up a fake child pornography website as part of an international law enforcement operation to catch paedophiles who search for images of abuse on the internet.

Operation Pin will use a bogus website claiming to contain images of child abuse to attract paedophiles. Anyone who uses the site will be given several opportunities through a series of warnings about the supposed content on the pages to leave the site.

Those who don't will be taken to a page informing them they have entered a law enforcement website, broken the law and that their details have been captured.

The operation was originally developed by West Midlands Police and has been expanded as part of a 'Virtual Global Task Force' headed up by the UK's National Crime Squad along with the FBI, Interpol and police forces in Australia and Canada.

Assistant Chief Constable Jim Gamble from the UK's National Crime Squad said at this morning's launch that people who view such images online fuel demand that leads directly to more abuse taking place.

"We hope this initiative will disrupt the activity of paedophiles operating on the internet, discourage those who facilitate the supply of images of child abuse online and undermine the confidence of those who hope to use the internet anonymously when searching for sexual gratification by viewing images of child sexual abuse," he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security's law enforcement and investigative bureau said it will exchange leads, intelligence and evidence with police from other countries to tackle the problem.