New team arrests 8 for child exploitation

Eight men have been arrested in South Australia over child exploitation offences after the establishment of a joint federal-state police investigation team.

The Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) has been operating in SA since January but details were only announced on Wednesday.

The team includes three Federal Police officers working with SA's Special Crime Investigations Branch.

Their job is to identify organised networks involved in the procurement and grooming of children and accelerate the response by police to information from international agencies about sexual predators using the internet.

Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan said fast-tracking investigations would boost Australia's child protection efforts.

South Australian Police Minister Tony Piccolo said the new partnership was vital to protecting children.

SA police said as well as the eight arrests, the team had investigated 30 referrals from the Federal Police assessment centre in Canberra and had executed 21 search warrants.