EUROPOL SAYS THAT OVER 200 victims of child abuse have been identified following a major international investigation into suspected child sex abuse.

The police agency said 184 suspected paedophiles have been arrested and a further 670 suspects identified as the investigation continues.

In a statement, Europol said its analysts had cracked “the security features of a key computer server at the centre of the network which uncovered the identity and activity” of the suspects.

The suspects are understood to have been involved in an online forum of up to 70,000 members which promoted sexual relationships between adults and young boys. Members were also tracked by police when they moved on to other sites or a private channel on the forum on which users could share videos and images of abused children.

The forum was hosted on a Dutch server and has been taken down.

Operation Rescue has been underway for three years and involved police in 13 different countries, including the UK, US, Italy, Belgium and Poland. Europol says some other countries currently involved in the ongoing operation have not been named.

Europol says 230 children have been rescued through the operation.