A group of child criminals was dismantled by French law enforcement. The case is very substantial: more than 120 victims, nearly a million pieces of illegal content and six arrests.
For several months, the Orléans research section had been investigating this child criminal group. Already during 2022, as part of regular surveillance of groups present on social networks, gendarmes had spotted several Internet users chatting in French. Photos of children in swimsuits or dancing were, for example, discovered, “disturbing content which can constitute a bundle of clues”, as an investigator commented according to BFMTV. However, such sharing still remained legal.
Subsequently, one of the members of these groups issued invitations to exchange in an encrypted Russian messaging service called ICQ. It was on this platform that child pornography content began to circulate. The investigators then managed to integrate this group to discover the photos and videos exchanged. They then quickly understand how the participants go about it: they create their own content, notably by pretending to be teenagers on social networks.
“As part of these links, these men manage to retrieve a photo of these teenagers. If the emotional link breaks, they use this photo to engage in sextortion and obtain other content,” added the investigator. Some have even simulated suicide attempts to push the child or adolescent to send images. Some young people have even been victims of sexual assault to produce content.
Analyzes still in progress
In total, 930,000 pieces of child pornography were found on computer equipment. In addition, 120 French-speaking victims were listed, including 22 French. According to France Inter, they are aged from 3 to 15 years old. Since April 2023, the arrests have continued. To date, six men have already been arrested, the last of whom was in early February, in connection with this affair. They are between 36 and 61 years old, some are fathers and several of them were already known for similar acts. One of those arrested is the administrator of the Russian messaging group.
According to the national gendarmerie forAFP, some were indicted for rape of a minor under 15 and resorting to prostitution of minors. However, the investigation continues, with investigators fearing that there may be other victims. Therefore, content is still being analyzed.