Paris - More than 50 people have been detained across France in a crackdown on a paedophilia ring using the Internet to distribute sexually-explicit photos of children, police said yesterday The detentions were the culmination of an eight-month investigation by paramilitary gendarmes, an official said.
Five people, detained since the police operation began on Tuesday morning, have been placed under formal investigation, the official said.
Only French residents were targeted in the initial operation but information on the network's links to other countries was also gathered and would soon be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement authorities, the official said.