Law enforcement authorities have arrested 70 people at airports around the world in a meticulously coordinated crackdown targeting criminals using fake or stolen credit cards to buy airline tickets.

Europol, the European Union police organization which oversaw the operation, said Thursday that the arrests were made this week by police and customs officials at 68 airports in 32 countries.

The arrests followed close coordination between law enforcement agencies, airlines and credit card companies.

Europol cybercrime chief Troels Oerting says the operation dealt a blow to online fraudsters.

He says that organized cybercriminals had assumed "that law enforcement agencies could not work together in cyberspace and act quickly and effectively. This operation again proves them wrong."