police crack online child abuse images network An online network that shared child exploitation images has been uncovered leading to the arrest of 20 men and a woman Australia wide. Operation Conqueror was established in January after Australian Federal Police officers discovered images depicting children of various ages being sexually abused being shared online. At least one of those charged was also producing the abuse images with police locating a victim in Australia who was aged under 10. Police will allege the offenders used a peer-to-peer network to share the images. AFP Cyber Crime Operations Commander Glenn McEwen said the images being shared were "abhorrent and personally disgusting." "Every image is a crime scene," he said. Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. The first arrests was made in February, only a month after police uncovered the networks existence, and 36 properties have now been searched nationwide. At one location they allegedly found 25 hard drives full of child exploration material. The alleged offenders were aged between 22 and 76 with eight of the arrests occurring in NSW, five in Victoria, three in Queensland and two in West Australia. One person was arrested in each of the Northern Territory and ACT.