Euro police nab 17 after FBI child sex-abuse probe

Seventeen people were arrested in Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands after an online child pornography sting, policing agency Europol said on Thursday. "After more than a year of investigations in the member states, 37 child sex offenders have been identified," the Hague-based agency said. "Among these offenders, 17 were arrested for child sexual molestation and production of illegal content," it added in a statement. "Operation Atlantic" was conducted by the FBI in collaboration with several European countries during the last 12 months, Europol's spokesman Soren Pedersen said. "Intelligence gathered by the FBI during a long and complex investigation was distributed by Europol to Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in December 2010," the press release added. It was the first time Europol and the FBI cooperated in an investigation into Internet child sex abuse. Last year in December, Europol said police in 22 European countries swooped on 112 suspects in "Operation Icarus" for allegedly sharing video material and images of children being subjected to the "most extreme form of sexual abuse".