Child porn link at Appeals Court

Police officers seized the hard drive from a computer operated by employees in the Appeals Court building in Athens on suspicion that it was used to trade in child pornography on Monday, Kathimerini has learned.

Sources said that officers from the electronic crimes squad made an unannounced appearance at the court building on Monday to inspect the computers used by the staff there. They were accompanied by prosecutor Yiannis Dragatsis, who is leading a judicial probe, and the head of the electronic crimes squad, Manolis Sfakianakis. It is rare for such officials to accompany officers on their raids and is an indication of how seriously authorities are treating the suspected exchange of indecent images and videos by a court employee.

According to sources, police acted on a tip-off and traced the exchange of pornographic material to a computer at the Appeals Court. The computer in question is thought to be operated by two employees. It was not immediately clear what authorities found on the computer.

Officers removed the hard drive from the computer and have taken it back to their headquarters for tests, which could help them work out what hours the indecent material was downloaded or sent and therefore make it straightforward to find which of the two employees traded in these images.

The electronic crimes squad is expected to announce its finding in a few days.

Last month, officers spent two days raiding homes in central Athens, the northern suburb of Kifissia, the southern suburb of Moschato, Piraeus, Rafina, the western port of Patra and Kastoria, in northern Greece, as part of an operation to arrest four suspected members. Warrants were issued for another five.

Officers confiscated computer hard drives containing thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused.

Meanwhile, authorities revealed yesterday that a group known as Greek Hackers had hacked into the General Accounting Office and stolen data that they posted on the Internet.

Source: Kathimerini