Austrian police say they have broken an Internet child porn ring, which they claim was the biggest crackdown on child porn in the country.

Some 189 Austrians have been charged with downloading and dealing in child pornography and another 97 are still under investigation.

"I'm convinced we'll be able to get 200 people to face trial," Reuters quoted presiding federal police investigator Harald Gremel as saying.

According to police, some 935 suspects were involved with the ring, including teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians and one lawyer.

"Unfortunately there were people involved who work closely with children, like teachers," said Gremel.

Some 624 individuals were cleared because they had only looked at the site, which is legal in Austria, but did not store or pass on images to others, he added.

Downloaded pictures included Paraguayan and American children between the ages of 9 and 12. Police says the ring was active in 170 countries and their website was visited 12 million times before authorities apprehended the offenders.

TE/HGH