Thirteen men, including a deputy school principal, have been charged following raids across Victoria that allegedly uncovered "abhorrent" and "disgusting" child abuse material featuring victims as young as newborns.
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Victoria Police and the Australia Federal Police raided homes across 19 suburbs and one country town over several days in March in the major joint operation.
They discovered thousands of videos and images of child abuse material, child sex dolls, weapons, illegal fireworks and drugs.
"The material that we're talking about here that's been seized relates to images of children as young as newborn children to the age of 17 years," Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Wednesday.
"It involves them in sexually provocative poses, it involves them being subject to violence, it involves them being in degraded acts and it also involves torture.
"This is horrendous. To view this material, to make this material, to share this material - it's abhorrent, its offensive and it's disgusting."
Thirteen men, aged 19 to 62, have been charged and another two are expected to be charged on summons.
All those charged have been bailed, including St John's Regional College deputy principal Quentin Paul Smith.
The 48-year-old from Richmond has been charged with accessing and possessing child abuse material as well as drug possession.
He will reappear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 7 and has been suspended from teaching.
"The staff member has had no contact with students since the school was made aware of the allegations," principal Tim Hogan said in a statement.
Investigators swooped on the men in the hope they would be able to rescue children from international child pornography rings, Mr Patton said.
"We needed to target these people to gain intelligence, to gain evidence and to disrupt the criminal activities and also to see whether any children needed to be rescued throughout this."
One video seized involved victims from the Philippines, AFP Superintendent Paul Hopkins said.
Police in the Philippines disrupted that ring, involving alleged offenders from Australia, the US, Brazil and the Philippines, he said.
"Where it happens, wherever it happens, we will track them down and save the victim - that's our highest priority," Mr Hopkins said.
The joint task force is trying to identify the children in the thousands of videos and photos who appear to be from overseas countries.
Mr Patton said it was among the fastest-growing crimes globally, fuelled by rapidly advancing technology.
"Every month hundreds of Victorians are sharing millions of images of child abuse material," he said.
"It's not just a statistic ... it's about children's lives."
He warned offenders police were "onto them".
"If they're naive enough to sit at home and think they're not going to be targeted, they've got another thing coming," he said.
The 13 men face up to 10 years in jail.
Australian Associated Press
