KEY POINTS:
Police have seized computers at 26 addresses across the country and arrested seven people in relation to an international paedophile ring.
New Zealand police were alerted to the ring by police from Italy and Germany.
The paedophile ring involves suspects from 99 countries and includes message boards and file sharing sites.
Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Holden is the national coordinator of the adult sexual assault and child abuse team.
Mr Holden said the initial arrests were made in August last year and there are likely to be further arrests once the other seized computers are analysed.
He said some of the files found on the computers are "horrific" and include images and videos of child rape.
Mr Holden said with the advance of technology, he would not be surprised if some of the images included New Zealand victims but there is no evidence of that so far.
The two prosecuted cases so far have seen one man sentenced to six months and another - who was found guilty of supplying images - to two years.
"There are another five in front of the courts," he said.
Mr Holden said the extent of the bust - as part of operation Smasher - is not unusual.
"It's just business as usual," Mr Holden said.
The arrests and sentencing are unrelated to the global paedophile ring, reported in the Herald two weeks ago.
