Nine men have been charged in a recent dragnet organized to catch child predators.

The Grovetown Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted "Operation Fowl Play" from Nov. 20 to 23, the GPD announced Monday.

"This is the third such operation of this type that we have conducted and was highly successful," GPD Chief Jamey Kitchens said in a statement. "As with past operations, these individuals were advised multiple times that they were communicating with a 'child,' yet they still traveled to a pre-arranged meeting location for sex with the 'child.'"

Seven of the nine men arrested arrived at the meeting site carrying firearms, the statement said. Undercover investigators engaged with more than 1,000 people using the

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