A man's been jailed for three and a half years, following a Customs investigation into the exporting and distribution of child sexual abuse material

The 35-year-old was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court today.

Last year, the US -based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified a New Zealand man allegedly uploading child sexual abuse material to social media.

Following a search warrant, he was found in possession of more than 13-hundred objectionable publications.

That included hyper-realistic computer-generated videos -- a crime Customs says it takes seriously, and will prosecute.