Austria launches largest-ever crackdown on child porn

Austrian authorities called a news conference Wednesday to detail what they described as the nation's largest-ever crackdown on child pornography.

Photo: Austria launches largest-ever crackdown on child porn

Federal police issued a brief statement Tuesday evening saying that authorities scored "a strike against child pornography unprecedented in Austrian criminal history," but would not elaborate.

Interior Minister Guenther Platter planned to brief reporters on the operation Wednesday morning, the ministry said.

Police have made several recent raids on the homes and offices of suspected child pornographers, the AP reports.

In 2004, investigators discovered more than 40,000 lurid images - including some depicting children - on computers at a Roman Catholic seminary in St. Poelten, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Vienna. The Vatican shut down the seminary for months.