A RETAIL manager from Malvern has been arrested in a police operation to smash an international paedophile ring.

The 36-year-old man, who has not been named, is thought to be a member of a group known as The Brotherhood.

He has been arrested in connection with the distribution and making of indecent images of children.

Twenty-one members of the group were arrested in five countries yesterday (Thursday), in an operation led by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit based in London.

The leaders of the ring held annual board meetings known as the Teddy Bear's Picnic at a farmhouse in the United States.