More than 2,200 criminals against minors, including the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, have been identified around the world in recent years as part of Operation Ninja Turtles which the Swiss police had started going undercover on the internetas he revealed today.

The case dates back to 2012 when Swiss police received information that a person living in the canton of Aargau was distributing “illegal pornographic material” under the pseudonym “Ninja Turtle” using the GigaTribe platform, which allows anonymous data exchange.

An investigation then made it possible to arrest, in the same year, the person who was a 62-year-old German who was convicted in 2015, Aargau cantonal police said in a statement.

The Swiss police then had the idea to use his profile to expose others who commit crimes and sexual crimes against children.

“The undercover operation carried out over the internet for several years has been successful,” with more than 2,200 perpetrators of crimes against minors identified, police said.

Arrests were made in Switzerland as well as elsewhere in the world, including Croatia, Brazil, France, Peru, Romania and Spain, police said in a statement.

Among those arrested, some used child pornography and others abused children.