Australian border officials are cracking down on child sex dolls used by pedophiles.

The life-size dolls which are anatomically correct and resemble children as young as five have been banned from being imported into the country since 2013.

During that time custom officials have seized 18 shipments of the dolls, which the Japanese manufacturer claims are used to help pedophiles control their sexual urges.

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Trottla founder Shin Takagi, who mass produces more than 100 different child-like sex dolls and is a self-confessed pedophile, said his creations help channel his client's "desires" away from real children.

"We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes," Takagi told The Atlantic .

"I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically. It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire."

A Change.org petition started earlier this year calling for ban on the dolls has garnered more than 60,000 signatures.

A Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokeswoman told Fairfax Media possession of the dolls was already an offence as they were considered child exploitation material.

"The Australian Border Force works closely with the Australian Federal Police and state police agencies to target and seize this objectionable material at the border, and bring before the courts those that seek to possess or are in possession of a child sex doll," she said.

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In 2014, a 32-year-old Sydney man was arrested after federal police raided his home and found an anatomically correct child doll in his bed.