According to the gendarmerie, confirming information from BFM TV, more than 16,000 people in 130 countries participated in forums where more than 200 terabytes of child pornography images and videos were made available to users. Ninety-five people were arrested in France.
The profile of those arrested varies: all are men, aged 18 to 74, to whom must be added a minor aged 16. Among them, 36 were already known for sexual offenses against minors or consultation of sites featuring minors. Seven were already registered in the file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses (Fijais).
A director of a youth information association, a sports instructor, a deputy mayor, etc.
The majority of those involved, who live mainly in the Ile-de-France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or Grand-Est regions, have already admitted the facts. One of them worked as director of a youth information association, another was a sports instructor. A deputy mayor is also involved.
The searches, carried out from December 9 to 19, revealed 375,000 photos and 156,000 videos while 122 computers, 330 digital media and 152 smartphones were seized, containing 217 TB of data.
The investigation began in November 2023 during the search of the telephone of an individual living in Hauts-de-Seine accused of habitually viewing child pornography images. Cyber investigators from the Versailles research section (SR), with the assistance of the National Cyber Unit (UNC), thus discovered the existence of several discussion groups on the Signal encrypted messaging service, whose name is unknown. equivocal on their subject.
“What is hidden behind these forums is this whole galaxy of child criminals”
“What is hidden behind these forums is this whole galaxy of child criminals who potentially can be extremely dangerous because they can also be predatory,” Colonel Hervé Petry of the UNC explained to AFP.
“The fight against child crime is an area in which the gendarmerie, for decades, has been very invested, very committed. Thanks to the rise of social networks, this has taken on a truly extremely worrying dimension since it has exploded: before social networks, it took several years for these people to be able to access this type of images. And even more so when approaching children,” he further detailed.
“Today, with social networks, there is an “increase in supply” since images and videos can be exchanged extremely easily (…) Now, we can connect at any time,” according to the colonel.
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