An international crackdown on suspected paedophiles has led to the rescue of 102 children in the UK, police said today.

The investigation has also led to the conviction of 1,230 people in Britain for child abuse or accessing child pornography on the internet.

Operation Ore is the British arm of the international investigation, which was launched two years ago by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in America.

It has tracked down thousands of suspects across the world who have accessed child pornography on the internet.

Senior detectives in the UK said today that 102 children had been removed from situations were they were either abused or at risk of abuse.

In total, 7,250 suspects were identified in the UK as a result of the inquiry, officers were told at a seminar in Birmingham.

Of those, 3,500 were arrested, 4,100 addresses were searched, 1,670 suspects have been charged with offences and 1,230 people convicted. More than 1,300 cases are still being investigated.

Among the huge number of people identified by the investigation is Pete Townshend, the legendary guitarist with The Who, who apologised after being identified in May last year by Operation Ore as having accessed child porn on the internet.

The guitarist was cautioned and put on the sex offenders' register, but was not charged as he had not downloaded illegal images.

Jim Gamble, the Assistant Chief Constable of the National Crime Squad, said: "The fact that more than 100 children in the UK alone have been identified and removed from areas of abuse is good news, but is a statistic we cannot celebrate.

"Thousands of people have been arrested, charged and convicted of viewing and trading in these images.

"Many offenders had thousands and thousands of images on their computer systems. We must all continue to work together to create an environment where children are not put at risk in this way at all."

Operation Ore was launched in the UK in May 2002 after an investigation by the US Postal Inspection Service into Landslide, a multi-million dollar internet site selling adult pornography and images of child abuse out of Fort Worth, Texas.

The subsequent US investigation revealed customers around the world, and the National Crime Squad became responsible for following up leads in the UK that it received from the FBI.

Due to the vast number of leads, officers prioritised investigations into three categories. The top category – which included around 1,200 names – included convicted paedophiles and those with access to children, such as teachers and social workers.

The second covered those in positions of authority like police and magistrates and the third was for suspects not involved in children.

The names included lawyers, businessmen, civil servants and people in the media. There was also considerable speculation about MPs and judges appearing on the list. Those since convicted have included doctors, teachers and police officers.

Police officers were being updated today on the progress of Operation Ore at the conference in Birmingham, as well as being thanked for their efforts and sharing ideas.

Mr Gamble added: "Innocent, vulnerable children and young people have been systematically abused so that their persecutors can trade these images on the Internet and by other means.

"Their protection is paramount to our work and we will continue to seek out those who commit these vile acts and bring them to justice."