Austrian police have uncovered a massive child-pornography ring on the Internet, tracking downloads of sexually violent material to more than 2,300 people in 77 countries, a government official said.

"This is the biggest case of child-porn distribution ever discovered in Austria," Interior Minister Guenther Platter told reporters on Wednesday. "This is a very important crackdown, and it is dealing with the most disgusting criminal acts against the most helpless members of society."

"It is amazing that within 24 hours, more than 8,000 hits were recorded from 2,361 suspects from 77 countries," he said.

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They were believed to have been shot in Eastern Europe and uploaded to the web in Britain, posted on a Russian website hosted by an Austrian company.

Some of the material was free but the Russian site was charging $89 (68 euros, £45) for access for a "members' only" section.

"A large proportion of policing successes in this area is intelligence led. It usually comes from a tip off from a parent or child," he says.

The codename was "Operation Flo".