Police said yesterday that they had arrested five people and were looking for another 15 in connection to Greece’s biggest and most shocking child pornography ring, which posted pictures of children in sexual acts with animals on the Internet.

After a six-month operation, officers swooped to catch the suspects in various parts of the country and are expected to make more arrests soon. The suspects include a 59-year-old architect from Athens, a 39-year-old mathematics teacher from Serres, a 30-year-old lawyer, three schoolboys and three young women.

Officers said that the 20 people allegedly involved had been running and supplying websites with photographs and video footage of children as young as 3, often bound and gagged, involved in sexual acts with adults and animals. Attica police said that the material they confiscated was the “sickest” they had ever seen.

Although a number of child pornography cases have come to light in Greece during recent months, this was the first time that the Internet server on which the material was stored was located in the country. Two of the people arrested were the owners of a telecommunications company in Veria, northern Greece, where the server was allegedly located. Two employees of the company were also caught.

The ring was allegedly formed after its members came into contact via Internet chat rooms and it is thought that this is how they enlisted the help of the three schoolboys in supplying them with material for the websites.