Men from Kitchener, Guelph and Brantford were among 348 people arrested in a long-running worldwide investigation into child pornography.

Toronto Police announced the culmination of the investigation, known as Project Spade, at a Thursday morning news conference.

The arrests include 50 Ontarians and 58 people from other parts of Canada, including teachers, doctors and actors.

Local arrests include Terence Keleher, a Guelph man who was arrested at his home in January 2012 and charged with possessing child pornography.

“We seized computers, camera equipment, external storage devices and DVDs,” says Guelph Police Const. Mike Gatto.

Keleher is currently serving a sentence in a United States prison, after which Guelph Police plan to arrest him for possession of child pornography.

A Brantford man, Gregory William Pickard, was also arrested in 2011 in connection with Project Spade.

He was working as a youth worker at the time, and has since served a prison sentence for possessing and accessing child pornography.

Now released from prison, he lives as a registered sex offender.

Brantford Police say computers found in the man’s residence contained 200,000 images and 400 videos of child pornography and nudity.

Paul Sop, a Kitchener resident, was arrested in February 2012 and charged with accessing and possessing child pornography.

Sop’s lawyer, Boris Bytensky, tells CTV News his client “vehemently denies” involvement in the world of child porn.

The key figure in Project Spade is Brian Way, a Toronto man who was arrested in 2011.

Police allege Way instructed people around the world to create pornographic victims of children as young as five years old and then distributed the videos.

Law enforcement organizations from the United States, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong and several European countries were also involved in the investigation.

With files from The Canadian Press