THE past few weeks have seen a crackdown on several illegal operations producing internet pornography, including child pornography.
The first crackdown happened in Bourgas on March 2. In an apartment, police found a studio catering for online chatrooms, with equipment including three computers, three cameras and sex devices. According to police, the equipment could have been used for real time audio and video pornography.
Some days later, officers from the Plovdiv unit for combating organised crime discovered two apartments in the city centre being used as studios for paid pornographic content.
In the two apartments, police found working computers and cameras broadcasting in real time to paid pornographic sites hosted by a US internet provider.
According to police, access to the sites cost $6 a minute.
During the operation, police arrested the two tenants of the apartments and two women who were working at the time.
According to initial information, the porn ring involved 20 men and women, and three underage girls.
They were working shifts of between three and eight hours and were getting between 250 and 300 leva a week. They were "employed" through intermediaries and announcements in clubs, bars and discotheques seeking people with computer literacy and good English.
During the ensuing search of the apartments, the police found large quantities of sex devices, a hunting rifle and a pistol along with permits for the weapons, large quantities of ammunition and a large quantity of CDs, some with pornographic content.
If found guilty, the two organisers could face a fine of 8000 leva and up to five years in prison.