More than 2,000 suspected users of child pornography across the world have had their computer addresses identified after Austrian police broke up a vast internet community peddling paedophile images.

“Girls could be seen being raped and you could hear screams,” said Harald Gremel, an internet crime specialist who led the Austrian investigation. He said that the videos had been made in Eastern Europe and featured children aged up to 14.

More than 70 of the identified addresses are in Britain and the information has been passed on to London, Chief Inspector Gremel said. The biggest catch was in the US, where the FBI is investigating 600 suspects. The Germans are investigating 406 users of the child pornography network, and the French are pursuing 114 suspects. Altogether, 2,360 suspects from 77 countries are under investigation because of the Austrian breakthrough.

“It’s the biggest strike against child pornography in Austrian criminal history,” said Gunther Platter, the Interior Minister. Videos were posted on a Russian website hosted by an Austrian company. The investigation began last summer, after an Austrian internet service provider told police that eight unauthorised video files had been uploaded on to its server from London.

The Russian website offered the images for downloading at a price of €69 (£45). Within 24 hours of discovering the Russian website, Austrian detectives recorded more than 8,000 hits on the material.

So far, no arrest warrants have been formally lodged. In Austria, 23 people have been questioned and 14 have confessed to downloading pornographic material. It is understood that charges will be pressed against them. Mr Platter said that the people participating in the pornography network represented a cross-section of society. The youngest user was 17, and the oldest was 69. They included students, schoolchildren, craftsmen and civil servants.

The police confiscated 38 computers in Austria, 1,400 diskettes and 213 video cassettes. The total amount confiscated amounts to eight terabytes, which is the equivalent of four billion printed A4 sheets.

In May last year, police in 12 EU countries and the US searched more than 150 houses and arrested several people suspected of being involved in child pornography. The arrests were prompted by Dutch intelligence about an internet message board. The network used sophisticated techniques to hide members’ electronic identities and post encrypted content.

More than 2,000 suspected users of child pornography across the world have had their computer addresses identified after Austrian police broke up a vast internet community peddling paedophile images.

“Girls could be seen being raped and you could hear screams,” said Harald Gremel, an internet crime specialist who led the investigation. The videos had been made in Eastern Europe and featured children aged up to 14, he added.

More than 70 of the identified addresses are in Britain and the information has been passed to London, Chief Inspector Gremel said. The biggest catch was in the United States, where the FBI is investigating 600 suspects. The Germans are investigating 406 users of the child pornography network, and the French are pursuing 114 suspects.

Altogether, 2,360 suspects from 77 countries are under investigation.

“It’s the biggest strike against child pornography in Austrian criminal history,” said Gunther Platter, the Interior Minister. Videos were posted on a Russian website hosted by an Austrian company.

The investigation began last summer, after an Austrian internet service provider told police that eight unauthorised video files had been uploaded on to its server from London.

The Russian website offered the images for downloading at a price of €69 (£45). Within 24 hours of discovering the Russian website, Austrian detectives recorded more than 8,000 hits on the material.

So far, no arrest warrants have been lodged formally.

Mr Platter said that the youngest user was 17, and the oldest was 69. They included students, schoolchildren, craftsmen, civil servants and old age pensioners.

The police confiscated 38 computers in Austria, 1,400 diskettes and 213 video cassettes.

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