LONDON – The police arrested 660 persons, including several doctors, teachers, scout leaders, care workers and former police officers, during a nationwide crackdown on paedophile networks in Britain, Asian Lite, a newspaper for the British-Asian communities, reported.
The unprecedented six-month operation, coordinated by the National Crime Agency and involving 45 police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, exposed the organised paedophile network. More than 400 children across the Britain have been safeguarded, the agency said.
Of the 660, 39 persons are registered sex offenders, but the majority of those arrested had not previously come to law enforcement’s attention. Some of those arrested had unsupervised access to children in the course of their work. Doctors, teachers, scout leaders, care workers and police officers are excluded from intensive check to protect children.
The agency says there are 50,000 people in Britain who access child abuse videos on the internet. —
