The FBI has arrested 12 Americans for their alleged participation in a sophisticated international child pornography ring that distributed more than 400,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse.
Authorities said they began infiltrating the group — whose members allegedly used encryption to communicate with each other and pass images back and forth undetected — in August 2006.
The 34-count indictment, unsealed Friday in Pensacola, Fla., describes conversations among the men accused of trading the pornography, which involved some victims as young as 5 years old. At least one defendant desribed the children in the images as being "heavily drugged."
One of the defendants went so far as to thank the other members of the group, according to the indictment.
"My thanks to you and all the others that, together, make this the greatest group of pedos to gather in one place," James Freeman, who authorities say went by the screen name "Mystikal," wrote, according to the indictment. "I'm honored just to be a part of it."
An FBI official told ABC News that the group maintained strict secrecy, using sophisticated technology.
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