Gardaí have identified five people in the Republic whom they suspect may have been part of an international paedophile ring viewing videos of children as young as nine being sexually abused.
While the Irish suspects have been interviewed, none has been arrested. Three other suspects were arrested in Northern Ireland as part of the inquiry, codenamed Operation Koala
One video accessed by viewers via the internet showed a Belgian father raping his two daughters, aged nine and 11.
Det Sgt Michael Lynch of the paedophile investigation unit within the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation told The Irish Timesthe five Irish computers were seized in Clare, Galway, Westmeath, Mayo and Wicklow.
"Because they were viewing the images, they are creating a market for the abuse," he said.
According to Europol, the EU's criminal intelligence agency, more than one million files and images were seized in some individual cases by the authorities in 19 countries.
The sole producer of the material, which numbered 150 videos, was a 42-year-old Italian man. He made most of the films while living in Ukraine. He was arrested last year in Italy.
He also produced some of the films in studios in Belgium and the Netherlands. He stored all of his administrative details on computers over 18 months, enabling the tracing of his "clients".
The abused girls, who were aged between nine and 16, were paid between €20 and €40 for their participation.
So far 92 arrests have been made, with many more expected.
"We have identified 2,500 customers from around the world. They are from all layers of society. We have identified school teachers, swimming instructors, lawyers, IT executives," Europol investigator Menno Hagemeijer told a news conference in The Hague yesterday.
The videos were sold via a website, generating considerable profits.
The network of abuse first came to light last year when a video showing the abuse of a girl was discovered in Australia. Information was passed by the Australians via Interpol to the Belgian authorities and Europol.
In Ireland five searches took place in July and August. The computers seized are still undergoing examination. To date 23 child victims of the so-called "modelling" website have been identified, 21 from Ukraine.
