A 40-year-old man yesterday became the fifth Greek in just over a week to face a prosecutor on charges of producing pornographic material involving young children and distributing it over the Internet.

The married shipping firm employee had allegedly been selling “exceptionally hardcore” material involving children as young as 4 to unidentified clients for the past six years, according to police.

In a raid on the suspect’s Athens home, officers seized a computer, a digital camera and a large number of CDs and DVDs allegedly containing child pornography. Police are investigating the possibility that some of the material was produced in Greece.

The arrest brings to 23 the number of suspects arrested in Greece since January 2004 on charges of distributing child pornography over the Net.