Germany investigates 12,000 in child porn ring

BERLIN (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt are investigating 12,000 people on suspicion of possessing illegal images of children, state prosecutor Peter Vogt told German radio on Monday.

"They face charges of downloading ... child pornography," Vogt told MDR radio.

Vogt said the probe was launched in the spring and has since traced suspects in 70 different countries. It began the investigation after a tip from a Berlin internet provider.

"The provider detected enormous amounts of data transfers," Vogt said. "He took a closer look at the data and discovered a link to a child pornography portal."

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum)