CHILD SEX RING IS SMASHED; Seven held over attempted abduction and porn.

Byline: By ROLAND HUGHES

SEVEN people, including three women, were yesterday arrested on suspicion of being part of a massive child porn ring.

Detectives swooped on homes in central and eastern North Wales yesterday as part of an ongoing child porn investigation.

Officers said the arrests also centred around the "attempted abduction" of children, but would not clarify the statement.

A North Wales Police spokeswoman said: "As part of a continued investigation into serious offences relating to attempted abduction and the possession of child pornography, officers from Eastern and Central Division's CID departments today arrested seven people.

"The four men and three women are currently being interviewed. At this time, the matter remains under investigation. Further information will be released in due course."

The group of seven remained in police custody last night. Police refused to confirm in which towns or villages in Flintshire, Wrexham, Conwy or Denbighshire yesterday's raids took place.

And neither they nor the appropriate local authorities could confirm whether any children had been taken into care by councils as a result of the arrests.

Similarly, police would not say whether any of those arrested were couples.

North Wales Police did, however, confirm yesterday's arrests were not in relation to their probe into an online paedophile ring.

In June, Timothy Cox, a brewer from Suffolk, was jailed indefinitely for hosting a child abuse website named The Light of Our Lives.

After the website was closed, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) agency sent a number of referrals on to North Wales Police.

But the force last night said the new arrests were unconnected to the CEOP or their referrals.

North Wales Police could not confirm at what stage was their investigation into the CEOP referrals.

The arrests were also unconnected to a major police number plate recognition operation on the roads of the force's central division yesterday morning.