Authorities catch dozens involved in cyber porn

Chinese police have been taking aim at cyber porn in recent days, announcing several raids on illegal operations in various parts of the country.

In central China, police raided a cyber pornography ring that took in nearly 20 million yuan (US$2.93 million) in six months.

Police caught 20 suspects, along with 1.29 million yuan, 10 laptop computers and 23 hard-disk drives full of pornographic material in the operation headed by the Ministry of Public Security.

With assistance from peers in Chongqing Municipality and Henan Province, the cyber police division in Jingzhou City of Hubei Province destroyed the ring and its more than 200 Websites.

Eight principals including the suspected ring leader were arrested and referred to prosecutors for criminal charges, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.

Almost at the same time, an action by more than 300 officers nationwide cracked down on a porn Website offering similar services, including more than 50,000 porn pictures and 1,300 adult videos.

Guests and VIPs

A total of 81 suspects were seized including about 30 administrators on the Chinese mainland.

The Website Sex8.com, with a server installed overseas, had 3.32 million registered "guests" and 2,400 VIP members. Customers paid 796 yuan a year.

Sixty two among the suspects nabbed were detained awaiting further criminal investigation, the newspaper said.

In addition, cyber police raided an online prostitution ring. Three suspects allegedly organized prostitutes and advertised online for business. They even set up an online society, using the domestic instant-messaging tool Tencent QQ, for prostitutes' contacts.

Meanwhile, Beijing police caught three suspects on suspicion of introducing pornographic material to their blogs, accessible for any visitors.