Thousands of British paedophiles are being investigated by police following a joint operation with US authorities.

Detectives in the UK have been given the details of Britons who used credit cards to access pictures of under-age children - some just months old - having sex with adults.

The first raid in Operation Ore was mounted in May, when 36 people were arrested after 31 police forces across the UK searched 44 homes.

At the time, officers said they had a list of 2,000 suspects.

Culprits face five-year jail terms

On Sunday, police confirmed further raids could be made in the next few months.

A spokeswoman from the National Criminal Intelligence Service told BBC News Online: "The intelligence came from the US and produced that raid in May. It's an ongoing investigation."

Those who subscribed to the sites - all thought to be men - face up to five years in prison.

All the paedophiles registered on the pay-per-view websites between May 1999 and September last year.

'Targeted'

Every customer is said to have had to provide an e-mail address and credit card details.

They were then sent a user-name and password to enable them to log on to a paedophile site.

After the first raid, DS Peter Spindler of the National Crime Squad said: "This is the first time we have targeted people who use the internet to buy images of children being sexually abused.

"We will continue these operations to protect children and show paedophiles law enforcement agencies will find them regardless of which area of the internet they use."

And Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Carole Howlett said: "A lot more work needs to be done.

"There is no greater priority than the protection of children - it should become a ministerial priority and a priority of every policing plan in the country."