Operation Ore arrests on Teesside

Those arrested are aged from their 20s to their 60s

Police on Teesside have arrested 24 people in the first phase of their part of an international investigation into child pornography on the internet.

The Operation Ore arrests came after credit card details of those who accessed sites were passed on to UK police by American authorities.

A specialist team of Cleveland Police officers used the data to investigate suspected paedophiles in their area, and carry out the arrests.

Those detained, who include one woman, range in age from their early 20s to 60s. A force spokesman said they came from all walks of life - and the majority have had no previous involvement with the police.

They said the investigation will now continue until the end of the year.

Officers have seized 60 computers and quantities of distressing images of children, aged from six months to 16 years, being abused.

'Real children'

One person arrested had just over a dozen images in his possession, but another had 50,000 pictures carefully stored on computer discs.

Each image is being carefully examined as the officers look for clues and try to identify the children.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Malcolm said: "Some of those images are depraved and distressing. These are real children being abused.

"Sometimes you can see children who are obviously in pain or are distressed and you have to keep reminding yourself what is normal."

Most of the photographs have been put on the Internet from sites in Indonesia and Russia.

In excess of 7,000 people were initially identified by the American Postal Inspection Services who uncovered the massive paedophile operation as part of its Avalanche investigation.