© CorbisA National Crime Agency operation has netted alleged paedophiles who had live videos of child sexual abuse streamed to them from the Philippines.
So far 17 Britons have been arrested in Operation Endeavour, which has spanned 12 countries.
British police have joined forces with Australian and US investigators in a two-year operation focusing on what the UK's National Crime Agency calls "a significant and emerging threat", particularly in developing countries.
Three other investigations are taking place into live streaming of child sex abuse, with 139 Britons among the 733 suspects.
Andy Baker from the National Crime Agency said: "This investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who believed paying for children to be abused to order was something they could get away with.
"Being thousands of miles away makes no difference to their guilt. In my mind they are just as responsible for the abuse of these children as the contact abusers overseas.
"Protecting the victims of abuse is our priority and that means attacking every link in the chain, from dismantling the organised groups who are motivated by profit through to targeting their customers."
So far 15 children aged six to 15 have been rescued after being identified as victims. In some cases their own relatives sold them for abuse.
In the UK, five of the 17 suspects arrested have been convicted, nine investigations are ongoing, one will face no further action and two are dead.
The inquiry began after Northamptonshire police visited registered sex offender Timothy Ford and began tracking the international abuse network from obscene videos they found on his computer. Ford was paying to view live sexual abuse and planned to move to the Philippines to open an internet cafe. He was instead jailed for eight-and-a-half years in March last year.
Another member of the paedophile network, Thomas Owen, who had nearly four million images of child abuse when he was arrested, was jailed for seven years in July last year.
In a statement, the NCA said: "The use of webcams to stream live abuse, particularly from the developing world, is a significant and emerging threat according to the NCA's CEOP (child exploitation and online protection) command.
"Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high-speed internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas customer base has led to organised crime groups exploiting children for financial gain."
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter