Police officers in Northern Ireland Computer Crime and Care Units have seized two computers and a number of computer disks following a search of a house in the Antrim area.

A police spokesperson said that computer crime officers were examining the computers and disks as part of a nationwide crackdown on Internet crime, codenamed Operation Magenta.

The dawn raids, which were a part of the operation, are part of an extensive six-month long investigation carried out under the Child Protection Act concentrating on the use of Internet chat rooms by paedophiles. It is suspected that the chat rooms have been used by paedophiles to advertise their activities and as a method of swapping images and other electronic files.

PSNI Chief Inspector Nick Purse who is the operations manager in Antrim said: "Police in Northern Ireland are determined to make it clear to those who use the Internet to commit criminal offences under the Protection of Children Order that their activities may be monitored which may lead to their arrest and prosecution".

Officers from the Hertfordshire Constabulary's Child Protection And Investigation Unit and Greater Manchester Police's Abusive Images Unit were jointly in charge of the nationwide swoop by police forces.

The operation involved a co-ordinated dawn swoop by officers from over 30 police forces across the UK who raided some 75 addresses across the UK.

Police have confirmed that following the raids a number of arrests have been made in the UK.

It is understood that substantial amounts of computer equipment have been seized for examination and that further arrests are likely to follow.

(SP)