The arrest of an online predator in New Zealand led to 31 children being rescued around the world and another 17 arrests.

Drew Webb, 20, a bartender who lived in Canterbury, was jailed in May last year for six years after admitting a raft of charges relating to the creation, possession and distribution of child sex abuse images.

At the time, the court heard the case had led to the rescues of 17 children overseas and the arrests of 11 adults, including caregivers, parents and a kindergarten teacher, who had traded images with Webb.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said in his weekly blog, posted on Wednesday, that the investigation had resulted in a further six arrests and 14 children rescued since Webb was jailed.

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The offenders had received "significant sentences", including jail terms of more than 20 years for some. A United States-based offender received a sentence of 30 years.

There were still several active investigations around the world, with police expecting the number of offenders prosecuted to grow.

Bush said the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand team recently received international recognition for their work in the case.

Scotland police Detective Superintendent Andy Lawson said the case was one of the best examples of law enforcement working at an international level he had ever seen.

"More crucially, the prompt and professional actions by all of the officers concerned in this case enabled a child, indeed potentially other children, to be protected from further harm by this perpetrator."

Webb's images included toddlers and babies. He admitted an interest in girls over the age of 3, and preferred images of girls aged 6 to 9.

Webb had thousands of images and hundreds of videos, including some where children were being abused in bondage.

He had pretended to have access to a 6-year-old daughter or niece to encourage people to abuse of children and send him images as part of a swap arrangement.

Webb pleaded guilty to 47 charges involving offending on the West Coast and in Canterbury, including making or copying objectionable publications, distributing and possessing objectionable images, making an intimate visual recording, and exporting and importing images he took with him on a visit to Hawaii.