In an exceptional health context, exceptional arrest.
A gendarmerie operation allowed, during the week of November 16, the arrest of 14 people suspected of child pornography.
The arrest took place in full confinement, a time "conducive to an increase in the activity of perpetrators of sexual assault on minors via the Internet", according to the gendarmes.
These arrests were accompanied by the seizure of more than 1,000 “child pornography” circulating on the Internet, announces the gendarmerie.
Of the 14 people arrested, three have already been sentenced to imprisonment, said a press release from the gendarmerie, confirming information from the Journal du dimanche (JDD).
Eight others are awaiting trial and three were presented to an investigating judge.
A foreign suspect has also been identified.
Sad ranking for France
The investigations were coordinated by the C3N, the gendarmerie's digital crime center, in conjunction with Europol and the national child pornography center (CNAIP).
In 2019, France was the third host country for child pornography content in the world behind the Netherlands and the United States, according to the association Point de Contact, the leading provider of reports to the French authorities.
The "grooming", the fact of coaxing children on the Internet for sexual purposes, and the "sextors", sexual blackmail after having obtained intimate photos of his victim, "are phenomena more and more widespread", alerted Point of Contact last spring.
