Police in Australia have charged four men following an investigation into what they called an “international satanic child sex abuse material ring” in the city of Sydney.

The New South Wales (NSW) police said on Monday they had charged the four with dozens of criminal offences after executing six search warrants at several addresses in Sydney last week.

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The men – aged 26, 39, 42 and 46 – were arrested on Thursday.

The operation came after an investigative team codenamed Strike Force Constantine uncovered a paedophile network based in Sydney that distributed abuse material involving “ritualistic or satanic themes”, the NSW police said.

The network circulated the material through a website administered internationally, they said.

Footage released by police showed officers in tactical gear breaking down the door of an apartment unit and taking one of the suspects into custody in handcuffs.

The police said the 26-year-old man played a leading role in the group.

The men face more than 20 charges related to possessing and distributing child abuse material as well as bestiality, with some of them also facing charges for drug possession, not complying with reporting obligations and contravening a prohibition order, according to police.

All four men were refused bail.

Police said they had not yet verified where the abuse material was produced, nor identified any of the children who were abused.

“Due to the nature of the material that they were sharing and the conversations that we became aware of, we were concerned about any children that these people might come in contact with as a result of that,” Superintendent Jayne Doherty, commander of the sex crimes squad, told a news conference.

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Doherty said officers had seized thousands of videos depicting the abuse of children aged 12 and below, including babies.

“Police will allege in court that this international group were engaging in conversations and the sharing of material which depicted child abuse and the torture of children involving symbols and rituals linked to Satanism and the occult,” Doherty said.

Doherty said authorities did not believe that the arrested men had recorded any of the material themselves, and that officers were working with international partners to identify the victims.

All four will appear in court next in late January.