Nearly 341 people have been arrested after a global child-porn ring was busted by the Canadian police.
The arrested people 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, Inspector Joanna Beavan-Desjardins, commander of the Toronto police sex crimes unit, said.
According to news.com.au, some 65 Australians were also arrested as part of Operation Thunderer, the local component of an international effort named Project Spade.
Some 103 search warrants were executed in Australia in recent months, leading to 65 arrests and 399 charges. More charges are expected.
Some 108 arrests were made in Canada and another 76 in the United States.
Commander McEwen said more arrests are expected as further forensic results are awaited.
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According to the report, he said all of those arrested in the operation, which began in Australia in early 2012, are all male and were customers of a Toronto-based website.
Canadian media described the website as 'the Amazon.com of child porn'. It was the recovery of its customer list that initiated the Australian investigations last year, the report said.
Toronto Police Service Chief William Blair said that undercover officers made initial contact with the ring in October 2010 through a Toronto man suspected of sharing child pornography.
According to the report, their investigation led to a company believed to be producing and distributing 'child exploitation videos and images over the internet'.
Police said the man running the company, Brian Way, allegedly 'paid various people to film children for the purpose of creating movies for sale on his website,' the report said.
The company allegedly contract people to create child porn videos involving children, largely boys, between the ages of five and 12, it added.
Many of those videos were allegedly shot in Ukraine and Romania in apartments, saunas and backyards.
The 42-year-old's home and business were raided seven months later and he was charged with operating a website that sold and distributed child pornography.
The website Azovfilms.com allegedly earned him 4.08 million dollars annually after it started in 2005.
The Toronto Star describes Azovfilms.com as a sophisticated site with an interface similar to Amazon.com.
Customers could peruse Top 10 lists and reviews, as well as a searchable catalogue.
Altogether, about 45 terabytes of child pornography on computers were seized, portraying hundreds of thousands of sexual acts involving children.
Among the seized assets was the company's customer list.
The United States Postal Inspection Service, as were authorities in Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, among others were involved in the probe, the report added.
