The Guardian has revealed in a recent report that US tech biggie Apple has fired “several” employees working at an Australian Apple Store for allegedly operating a “photo-sharing ring.”

According to the report, a number of employees at an Apple Store in Brisbane have been fired by the company over violation of its conduct policies. The fired employees allegedly clicked pictures of women, shared the pictures with one another, and ranked the women on appearance on a scale of 1-10.

Earlier, in a report released this week, Australia-based Courier Mail had revealed that the employees working at the Brisbane Apple Store – which is located in Brisbane's Carindale Westfield shopping centre – clicked photos of female customers and employees, and also raided photos from the phones which the customers had left at the store for repairs.

The Courier Mail report said that the issue was flagged by an Apple employee working at the Carindale store in Brisbane. The employee reportedly discovered one of the alleged perpetrators scrolling through the phone of a customer, to allegedly share photos with the members of the “photo-sharing ring.”

About the issue, Apple said in a statement that it has initiated an investigation into “a violation of Apple's business conduct policy at our store in Carindale;” and added that “several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings.”