Two men were arraigned in court today after allegedly seeking to take lewd photographs of underage girls.

Michael Kingswell, a 36-year-old from Zebbug, was charged with having sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl after he attracted her to take part in a photoshoot by contacting her through Facebook.

He pleaded not guilty to charges.

Interpol had informed the Maltese authorities that a Maltese IP address was used to download pornographic images of children.

Police inspector Joseph Busuttil told the court that Mr Kingswell used Facebook to get in touch with minors over the age of 14 for them to take part in  photo shoots.

The inspector said that the accused would send photos of nude young people in lewd acts to the girls he would contact, offering to take similar shots of them. 

Mr Kingswell is also accused of engaging in sexual activity with one of the underage victims.

Defence Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi did not request bail.

In a seperate case, the second man arraigned, Roberto Rizzo, 37 from Marsascala, was charged with enticing girls under the age of 18 to indecent photo shoots, some of which, it is alleged, went through.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr Rizzo was denied bail.