Britain's National Crime Agency in coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Australian Federal Police headed an investigation -- codenamed Operation Endeavor -- which led to the dismantling of an organized crime group that was responsible for live-streaming child sexual abuse for payment from the Philippines -- reaching viewers worldwide.

The investigation identified 733 suspects, produced a number of convictions, and resulted in the arrest of 29 individuals from 12 nations who paid money to watch the abuse, including the arrests of 11 suspected of facilitating the abuse in the Philippines. The international investigation began in 2012 after a routine visit to the home of a registered sex offender in Britain, Timothy Ford. The police discovered a number of unseemly videos on his computer and a collection of DVDs recorded from webcams and contacted child abuse investigators. Ford not only paid to watch the live abuse, but planned to move to the Philippines to set up an internet cafe.

Thomas Owen, another customer of the website, discussed traveling to the Philippines with Ford. To avoid detection, Owen would have acted as a caregiver to Ford, who is wheelchair-ridden. Ford was sentenced to eight and a half years last March, and Owen received a seven-year sentence in July. Another Briton convicted was Michael Eller, who was given a 14-year sentence last December. Five of the 17 Briton suspects arrested were convicted, one received no further action, two are dead, and nine others are still being investigated.

Hong Kong, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Taiwan, Denmark, Switzerland, the US, France, Germany and Canada are the nations from which pedophiles paid to witness the live sexual abuse of 15 children, ages ranging between 6 and 15.

Investigators found evidence of money transfers to the parents of five of the abused children that Ford and others paid to watch. Those children were identified, and safeguarded from further abuse. The Filipino pedophile ring leaders were arrested under the Philippine Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2003, which includes the sexual exploitation of children.

"Thanks to this joint operation, children have been rescued from a living nightmare," said James Dinkins the executive associate director of the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "The group responsible for these heinous crimes mistakenly believed that they could use technology to avoid detection, but they were wrong."'

Operation Endeavor has brought attention to a growing epidemic and an "emerging threat" in impoverished countries, and that's the abuse and exploitation of children for pay. The growing availability of high-speed internet in areas that are already fluent in child sex work means that wealthy customers overseas will finance organized crime groups which profit from the exploitation of children.

Mayor Michael Rama of Cebu City in the central Philippines, where some of the abuses were reported, stated that community support is crucial part of eradicating the victimization of children. Impoverished parents allowed the images of children being sexually abused to be broadcasted to foreigners via the web, in exchange for $100 to $200. Rama stated that if "villages don't get involved" then nothing will change.

"This investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who believed paying for children to be abused to order was something they could get away with," said Andy Baker, the deputy director of the agency's command for child protection. "Being thousands of miles away makes no difference to their guilt. In my mind they are just as responsible for the abuse of these children as the contact abusers overseas."

There are other operations in the Philippines that are ongoing which are similar in nature, reported Baker, however, he could not elaborate from fear of compromising them.