More than 500 suspects have been arrested by the police of 12 European and Latin American countries in a joint operation against Internet child pornography, according to media reports Thursday.

The Uruguayan police was quoted as saying that police from seven Latin American countries, namely Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay, and five European countries, namely France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, participated in the Spain-coordinated international action.

In Uruguay, two suspects were arrested, accused of distributingchild pornographic materials through a Spanish-language chat-room on the Internet.

The joint operation started in the city of Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain's northwestern coastal province.

The arrests in Uruguay were made according to information supplied by Eurojust and Ibered, the European and Lain American judicial cooperation organizations, said the police.

Through Internet communities, chat-rooms, instant message services and emails, over 20,000 child-pornography items, including videos, photos and MP3 discs, have been distributed.

Source: Xinhua