UK agency says rescues more children from sex abuse

LONDON (Reuters) - A British police agency specialising in protecting children from sexual abuse played a part in the arrest of 297 suspected offenders last year, a three-fold annual increase, it said on Monday.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), set up in 2006 to monitor suspected sex offenders, particularly on the Internet, said it had rescued 131 children from sexual abuse -- double the figure from the previous year.

The CEOP also said it had dismantled six paedophile rings with international links and processed almost one million images of child sex abuse.

"I hope offenders look hard at these figures because they show not just how we at CEOP are working, but are the culmination of how far law enforcement and the child protection community has come," CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble said in a statement.

"They are the results of truly collaborative action. By us all working together 131 children are now safeguarded from some of the worst abuse imaginable - that is true impact."

Linked to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the CEOP is staffed by specialist police officers, computer experts and child welfare officials.

It also has links to the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies fighting paedophilia.

(Reporting by John Joseph; Editing by Keith Weir)