Police arrest 80 suspects in pedophile raid
French officials uncover more than 100,000 "sometimes very violent" paedophile photos and videos during a large-scale raid. Among those arrested were representatives of all social classes, from local politicians to educators. The latter was already known to the police.
According to police reports, 80 suspects have been arrested in a large-scale raid against paedophiles in France. Among them were representatives of all social classes, including a local politician, two teachers, an educator in a home for disabled children, sports coaches and an engineer, said Quentin Bevan, head of the new youth department at the criminal investigation department (Ofmin).
According to Bevan, who coordinated this week's raids, police focused their search on men who regularly came into contact with children. During house searches, the investigators confiscated more than 100,000 pedocriminal videos and photos stored on computers, hard disks or other digital media. Some of them were "extremely violent", said Bevan.
Around a dozen of those arrested, including the teacher, are suspected of having sexually molested or raped minors. The educator had already been convicted of rape decades ago, but had been allowed to change his identity - and was therefore able to work with children again, Bevan reported.
The investigations had shown that users of child pornography on the internet could eventually commit the crime themselves, he added. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin spoke in the online service X of a "major blow against paedocrime". According to him, the investigation is still ongoing. "These photos are not virtual, there are thousands of victims, vulnerable beings who have been raped and in many cases have suffered torture and other cruelties," Martine Brousse, president of the association La Voix de l'enfant (The Voice of the Child), told BFMTV. She called on the judiciary and the Ministry of the Interior to do everything possible to find the victims.
Read also:
- Snow chaos further restricts Bavaria
- Unanimous decision: faster wolf culls possible
- The year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Snow and ice paralyze southern Germany
Source: www.ntv.de
