A worldwide undercover police operation infiltrated and shut down an online network of 300 paedophiles, police said on Wednesday.

The swoop involved police in the UK, Australia, US and Canada, and was coordinated by the the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in London. An undisclosed number of children were rescued from alleged sexual abuse.

CEOP chief exec Jim Gamble said: "We identified an online area used by individuals with a deviant interest in children - in my mind that's a paedophile ring."

"We had undercover officers from Canada, America, Australia and the UK involved simultaneously. Through an eight-hour shift pattern there was a continuous covert investigation trying to infiltrate the group."

The leaders of the network were in the UK, he said. As well as the arrests already made, information collected by investigators will continue to be shared internationally. ®

Related stories

UK.gov will force paedophiles to register email addresses (4 April 2008)
UK police release fugitive paedophile (16 January 2008)
Interpol launches worldwide hunt for abuse pics man (8 October 2007)
Cops smash paedophile ring (18 June 2007)
LiveJournal says sorry for blanket sex-talk censorship (1 June 2007)
Spyware mum foils pervert (1 June 2007)
Ex-judge jailed for child abuse (22 February 2007)
ViSOR numbers creep towards 100,000 (22 February 2007)
Paedophile trio locked up on chat room evidence (5 February 2007)
MySpace passes age verification buck to parents (17 January 2007)
Online dragnet catches missing child abusers (12 December 2006)
Porn downloader jailed for abusing child at work (31 August 2006)
Sober worm prompts net perv confession (20 December 2005)