A long investigation allowed the dismantling of a network of child criminals which caused more than 120 minor victims, including 22 French women, the national gendarmerie announced on Thursday, claiming to have seized nearly a million child pornography photos and videos.
Six men, aged 36 to 61, were indicted for child pornography, including one in Belgium, according to a press release from the gendarmerie, which does not specify the nationalities of the accused.
Some were also indicted for rape of a minor under 15 and resorting to prostitution of minors, the national gendarmerie told AFP.
One of the six individuals was the administrator of two groups for exchanging child pornography photos and videos on the Russian online messaging service ICQ.
The other five were members of one of these groups.
The investigation, which began in the summer of 2022, made it possible
“to highlight that each of the members (had) a distinct but well-established operating mode allowing them to obtain illicit files”
, indicates the gendarmerie.
930,000 photos and videos found
They thus used
“threats, blackmail, but also harassment and simulated suicide attempts”
to push the child or adolescent to send photos and videos, or to commit a sexual act with them, explains the press release. .
“One of the victims, for fear of reprisals, accepted a sexual act
,” details the same source.
One of the accused
“raped and sexually assaulted a little girl close to him for three years”
while another
“raped a minor using subterfuge to obtain her consent, essentially using her emotional fragility and her disability. »
Some 930,000 photos and videos were found, according to the gendarmerie,
"but we continue to analyze the (computer) equipment seized"
, AFP was told.
“We are on a long investigation which is coming to an end, a big case,”
it was stressed, adding that they had acted in cooperation with the Belgian law enforcement authorities, for the arrest in Mons (Belgium).