348 people have been arrested over the distribution of online child exploitation material. Credit:AFP AFP national child protection operation co-ordinator Todd Hunter said all six were abused in the production of exploitation material. ‘‘They were all being filmed or had photos taken of them in horrible circumstances,’’ he said. He said the first arrests were made in August 2013 and have been ongoing. “In these investigations, the identification and removal of child victims from harm [is a top priority]. We will always focus on that as a first priority, over and above any prosecution action and that is a concern that there will be further children identified.”

The AFP have arrested 65 people in Australia. Credit:AFP Those charged in NSW include two teachers, a priest and a former priest, who were arrested in July and August this year. AFP commander Glen McEwen said the investigation, named Project Spade, followed a sting into a child exploitation website operating from Canada and was one of the largest of its kind ever carried out through law enforcement co-operation. Hundreds across the world were arrested over a child porn ring. ‘‘The AFP and state and territory police worked relentlessly alongside international partner agencies to bring these offenders to justice," Commander McEwen told journalists in Canberra.

"This global investigation has disrupted a wide-spread international network of suspects, in a powerful demonstration of law enforcement working together to protect children around the world. He said investigations in Australia had been under way since early 2012 and more arrests were expected in coming months. “As you would appreciate, there’s a lot of forensic analysis that needs to be conducted in these types of investigations and we are expecting more charges to be laid,” he said. Police said 108 people had been arrested in Canada, 76 in the United States and 164 in other countries from Spain to Mexico and South Africa. As a result of the operation, 386 children have been removed from harm, police said.

"Of concern to the investigators was the number of people [arrested] who have close contact with children," Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, head of Toronto's Sex Crimes Unit, said. "The arrests included 40 school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, 32 people who volunteered with children, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests, and three foster parents." The investigation by about 30 police forces - from Australia, Spain, Ireland, Greece, South Africa, Hong Kong, Mexico, Norway and the United States, among others - led to the rescue of 386 children, most of whom were prepubescent, she said. Police began looking into the operations of a Toronto company called Azovfilms.com and its owner, Brian Way, 42, in October 2010, and the US Postal Investigation Service helped comb through the company's database to track down both the producers and the consumers of the porn, Ms Beaven-Desjardins said. Mr Way's lawyer, Nyron Dwyer, declined to comment.

The Azovfilms.com website has been shut down. People making the images included a youth baseball coach in Washington state who made more than 500 films and a school employee in Georgia who put a camera in a student washroom to videotape images of students' genitals, US Postal Inspection Service inspector Gerald O'Farrell said. More than 350,000 images and over 9000 videos of child sexual abuse were found during the probe, and arrests are continuing, Ms Beaven-Desjardins said. "It is still ongoing, there will be further arrests and I imagine there will be more children that will be saved because of it," she said. Australian arrests

Nine of the Australians arrested are from NSW; 33 from Queensland; 12 from South Australia; five each from Western Australia and Victoria; and one from the ACT. The Australian arm of the global investigation was known as Operation Thunderer. Police said a 42-year-old school teacher was arrested in Cowra on July 24 and charged with possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child pornography. A 57-year-old Catholic priest was arrested at The Rocks on July 29 and charged with using a carriage service to access child pornography. A 42-year-old school teacher was arrested at Emu Plains on August 7 and charged with possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child pornography. A 72-year-old retired Catholic priest was arrested at Lake Haven on August 20 and charged with possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child pornography.

The four men are all before the courts. Police spokeswoman Cath Allen said Victoria police arrested one of the five Victorians involved. "We arrested a 50-year-old man from St Kilda, and charged him with possessing, accessing and using a carriage service for child exploitation material as part of the operation," she said. An AFP spokesman said the federal police handed the other four Victorian arrests. A 61-year-old Belmont man is facing three charges, including a one-time use of a carriage service to access child pornography, and one time charge of soliciting of child pornography. He appeared at the Geelong Magistrates Court.

A 52-year-old Sunshine North man has been remanded until a committal mention, and has been charged with a one-time use of a carriage service to access child pornography and a one-time use of a carriage service to transmit child pornography. A 53-year-old Belmont man, who will appear at the Geelong Magistrates Court, was charged two offences, including a one-time use of a carriage service to access child pornography. Loading A 42-year-old Keysborough man, also facing two charges, will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. - with Reuters and Caroline Zielinski, Tom McIlroy