Seven men suspected of serious sexual abuse against children are arrested in Sweden

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Seven men have been arrested in Sweden and charged with offences related to serious sexual abuse images of children.

On Wednesday and Thursday, police officers entered several addresses in central Sweden, reported Dagens Nyheter newspaper, which was present at one of the arrests.

Using intensive surveillance, and monitoring, the police have identified what is described as a network of men between 50 and 70 years of age.

The arrests and detentions have been planned for several weeks, and received legal protection for the searches conducted to preserve evidence.

The National Police Operational Department (Noa) received tips about one of the men in the autumn. He had been previously investigated for sexual abuse of children.

Several of the suspected men had reportedly been contacting one another via a telephone service. Their conversations were about very serious assault involving the torture and murder of children.

Some of the men discussed the possibility of abducting refugee or other children, wrote Aftonbladet newspaper. One reportedly bragged that he had abused children in Asian countries.

Several of the men have formerly either been under suspicion of, or convicted for sexual crimes against children. One of the men who was arrested,abducted a male child in the 1990s and molested him. The man was sentenced then to compulsory psychiatric care.