Milan, May 26 (IANS/AKI): Police on Tuesday arrested a priest and three other suspected paedophiles in an operation that broke up an alleged international child pornography ring.

Police said they identified 223 people who accessed "obscene and extremely violent material", including 29 Italians.

The material shows young children being forced to have sex with each other and with animals, according to the investigation spearheaded by police in the northern Italian city of Milan.

Suspected paedophiles are being probed in 35 different countries over the alleged network whose members produced and shared “multimedia” material over the internet, police said.

Two unemployed men and a labourer were arrested in Tuesday's bust as well as the priest and all are middle-aged, police said.

Police searched properties and seized a number of computers, smartphones and other devices during the operation.

Police said they intercepted suspects' email and wiretapped their phone conversations in the ongoing probe, which began in 2010.