France arrests 55 men in Telegram paedophile ring crackdown
Fifty-five men have been arrested in
France this week as part of an operation to dismantle a suspected paedophile ring operating via the Telegram messaging app, authorities said on Thursday.
The arrests took place in 42 departments over possession, distribution and regular viewing of pornography involving children 'under the age of 10', France's OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, told Agence France-Presse.
The arrests, which followed a 10-month investigation, took place from Monday to Thursday. The suspects, aged 25 to 75, include a priest, a paramedic and a music teacher.
The men exchanged messages on Telegram and were in contact with 'extremely dangerous' paedophiles who have been in prison since last summer, Quentin Bevan, head of the OFMIN's operational unit, told Agence France-Presse.
The large-scale operation began last summer with the arrest of individuals suspected of abusing children and posting images on Telegram.
'It took 10 months of investigation to track down these child abusers,' Bevan said. 'Ten months of undercover work involving thousands of exchanges, analysis and detection of paedophile images by a task force set up at the OFMIN.'
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