55 men arrested in France in major operation to bust online paedophile ring
By
Pierre Bairin
and
Max Saltman
, CNN
File photo.
Photo:
123RF
Fifty-five men from across France have been arrested as part of a large-scale operation to dismantle a paedophile network operating through the messaging service Telegram, according to France's Office for the Protection of Minors.
The suspects, aged between 25 and 75, are accused of exchanging messages on Telegram with an "extremely dangerous" child sex offender who was incarcerated in the summer of 2024, and whose own children were rescued after being abused, Quentin Bevan, head of the OFMIN's operational unit told CNN on Thursday.
"These 55 individuals all exchanged CSAM imagery (Child Sexual Abuse Material) with the dangerous paedophile, so we had digital evidence implicating all of them," said Bevan.
Bevan said that the arrests are "the fruit of a 10-month long investigation."
"It was a major investigation and infiltration operation on this Telegram group," Bevan said. "We had to follow the exchanges, analyse them, and identify the individuals hiding behind these Telegram pseudonyms - especially those who had children, had criminal records, or worked in sensitive professions involving contact with children."
Bevan said the men are from all ages and backgrounds: fathers, civil servants, military personnel, and paramedics. In France, the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material is punishable by a five-year prison sentence and a €100,000 (NZ$190k) fine.
In a statement to CNN, Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn said the company has taken "extensive measures to combat child abuse." He said more than 367,000 groups and channels related to child sex abuse material have been removed in 2025 so far, as a result of its efforts.
This is not the first high-profile case involving the platform in France. In August 2024, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained at Paris's Bourget Airport on a warrant related to Telegram's moderation policies.
French authorities indicted Durov on 28 August 2024 on several charges, including money laundering and spreading child sex abuse material. Durov said in a statement soon afterwards that he was committed to improving his app's moderation and that authorities were trying to hold him "personally responsible for other people's illegal use of Telegram."
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