Police have have arrested 184 suspected child sex offenders worldwide and identified over 200 victims of child abuse following one of the biggest international investigations of its kind.
Europol said 670 paedophile suspects were identified and a total of 184 arrests made as part of Operation Rescue, which has been running for over three years.
The agency said 230 children were safeguarded, which is the highest ever achieved from this type of investigation. This figure is set to rise further in the coming weeks, according to the agency.
Gardaí said no arrests were made in Ireland.
More than 120 suspected paedophiles were arrested in Britain in the operation.
Describing the result as "groundbreaking", Europol director Rob Wainwright said the focus of the investigation centred on a website that promoted sexual relationships between adults and young boys.
The website operated from a server based in The Netherlands and had as many as 70,000 members worldwide.
The work of Europol analysts in cracking key security features on a computer server at the centre of the network was central to the operation, Mr Wainwright said.
Over 4,000 intelligence reports were subsequently issued to police authorities in over 30 countries in Europe and elsewhere, he said.
Law enforcement authorities from 13 countries participated in the operation. They included Australia; Belgium; Canada; Greece; Iceland; Italy; The Netherlands; New Zealand; Poland; Romania; Spain; the UK and the United States.
Some other countries, although not listed, still have investigations ongoing in which suspects have been identified.
