Thirteen people have been arrested in a police operation sparked by the search for the missing youngster.
Barcelona-based private
detectives Metodo 3 were
hired by Gerry and Kate
McCann to help find
Madeleine six months
after she vanished.
Three months into their
investigation they
received an anonymous
email saying the toddler
appeared in a child porn
video being distributed
on the Internet.
The team, lead by agency
director Francisco
Marco, tracked down the
images but discovered
Madeleine did not appear
among them.
They reported their finding´s to Spain´s National Police who launched an operation to hunt down the paedophiles distributing the videos.
Armed police launched a
series of raids across
Spain last month and
arrested 13 people. Ten
more are being formally
investigated by a judge
at a Barcelona court,
who is overseeing the
police operation.
Father-of-two Marco, 36,
said videos were 'the
worst images I have seen
in my life.'
He added: 'In the video all the victims are under ten years old. I am satisfied to have taken out of circulation more than 20 paedophiles, and those who will be arrested in the future.'
The detective said his
team has found similar
images in the hunt for
Madeleine which will
lead to further arrests.
El Mundo newspaper said
the videos were being
distributed by the
network p2p and the file
sharing programmes
Gnuteklla and
eDonkey2000.
Police sources said the video showed dozens of young children, mostly girls, being sexually abused. The Spanish paedophiles were allowing other Internet users around the globe access to the videos.
Police seized five home computers, three laptops, 47 hard drives, 133 DVDs and CDs, a digital camera, two video cameras and a photo album showing hundreds of child porn pictures.
Madeleine was days short of her fourth birthday when she went missing on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
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Madeleine (pictured with her brother and sister) has been missing since May 2007 |
Mr Marco was criticised
after making a string of
boasts about his team´s
ability to find
Madeleine.
In November 2007 he
promised he would locate
the missing youngster
before the firm´s six
month contract expired.
And the following month
he sensationally claimed
he knew who kidnapped
Madeleine - and hoped to
reunite her with her
parents for Christmas.
Metodo 3´s six month contract ran out in January 2008 but they have continued to work on the Madeleine investigation along with fresh teams hired by the McCanns.
They have investigated possible sightings of Madeleine as far afield as Chile, Morocco and Bosnia
Madeleine and her family have been in our prayers every night from the outset, along with Amy Fitzpatrick from Dublin who went missing in Fuengirola, and they will continue to be in our prayers until such time as we get news of them. God bless their families and keep searching.
- Myself, Cork, Ireland, 19/1/2009 11:28