Four people were arrested and indicted this week in France, in several departments, as part of a vast investigation into child crime networks on Telegram, franceinfo learned on Friday November 15 from the Brest prosecutor's office and from a source close to the 'investigation. Of the four indicted, three were placed in pre-trial detention, the last under judicial supervision.
These four indictments arise from an investigation, begun several months ago by OFMIN, the Minors Office of the National Directorate of the Judicial Police, explains the Brest prosecutor's office. By July 2024, investigators had identified “two minors victims of rape and aggravated human trafficking”. Two suspects were then identified and placed in pre-trial detention. Thanks to these elements, the police were able to infiltrate messaging groups on the Telegram application, used by child criminals to exchange content, including images and videos of abuse they had committed.
“More than 10,000 child criminals, from 50 different countries”, were identified by investigators. They exchanged “more than 70,000 messages and 23,000 child abuse images” on these Telegram networks, many of the contents of which came from “personal production” of users, describes the floor.
Among the four people arrested, there is a 37-year-old man, arrested in Finistère, in the town of Scaër, indicted on Thursday following his police custody. He is the target of an investigation for rape, aggravated sexual assault on a minor aged 15, habitual consultation, recording, detention and dissemination of an image of a minor of a pornographic nature. Three minor victims were identified following investigations. The accused is known to the courts, “already convicted, but for acts of another nature”. He was placed in “provisional detention”.
Three other people were arrested and indicted this week in the same case, one of whom in Ain learned from a source close to the investigation. Two of the suspects were imprisoned, the last was placed under judicial supervision.
The prosecutor indicates that the arrest, in August, of the CEO of the Telegram application, Pavel Durov, facilitated “the identification of prioritized and localized targets in France and abroad”. On August 25, Pavel Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport, then indicted and placed under judicial supervision, accused of “complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction, by an organized gang”.
OFMIN investigators transmitted “around thirty targets” et “digital evidence of their abuses broadcast on Telegram messaging groups” to foreign police services. Some suspects have already been arrested. The prosecution emphasizes “the international dimension of online child crime”.
The elements of the file illustrate “the extent of the child crime phenomenon”with a “contact between pedophiles which takes place in a few seconds on platforms and networks”. However, the contents do not “not the subject of financial transactions” and these are “more the possession of unpublished content of sexual abuse of minors, resulting from personal production, as well as the tastes of the different pedophiles who structure the volatile exchanges and the opportunistic links developed between child abusers”.
“This operation once again underlines that Telegram is a very popular platform in the pedophile sphere, which still feels safe there despite the questioning of its CEO”concludes the prosecution.
