Police Bust Major Online Pedophile Ring in Europe

[Bo.]

Police Bust Major Online Pedophile Ring in Europe

Police in Europe have arrested more than a hundred people in what officials are calling the largest online child-sex ring ever discovered.

At least 230 children, some as young as 7 years old, were rescued from sexual abuse, officials at the European police agency Europol said today. Europol Director Rob Wainwright said the child sex ring had 70,000 members and was "probably the largest online pedophile network in the world."

Although most of the 184 arrests were made in Europe, the three-year investigation has flagged 670 suspected pedophiles around the world, from Australia to Brazil to the United States, officials said in a press release today. Those alleged offenders, police said, will be investigated and brought to justice.

The ring was operating on the site boylover.net, a "discussion-only" forum based out of the Netherlands where people shared their interest in young boys. Authorities say members used the site to exchange videos and photos of children being abused.

Police said they arrested members accused of having direct physical contact with children, but warned others active on the site that there will be more arrests. Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center lead the investigation, which aided authorities in 30 different countries in busting the ring.

One of the people arrested in England was a woman, officials said. Others included teachers, boy scout leaders and police officers.

Peter Davies, the UK police chief who heads the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center, said the same technology that allowed the alleged pedophiles to engage in illegal activities helped authorities bust the ring.

"What we show today is that while these offenders felt anonymous in some way because they were using the internet to communicate, the technology was actually being used against them," he said in a press release today. "Everything they did online, everyone they talked to or anything they shared could and was tracked by following the digital footprint."

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/16/police-in-europe-bust-major-online-pedophile...

 

[Tjerk12]

Hi Bo,
This event got large attention in the Dutch media. It is good to hear that they detected this international ring. But I doubt if it solves the problem. Being a father I always was afraid about the safety of my kids on this matter. It is difficult to understand that people see children as an object of sexual desire. But practice shows that they exist and they want their needs fulfilled, anyway. In The Netherlands the police seem to have a priority in detecting people who have childporn on their computer. I do not know if this is the right priority. For me it seems better that those people get their fulfillment that way instead of posting alongside schoolyards. It would be better to detect the makers of childporn and punish them severe (10 years or more in prison). Of course it is so that when there is no client; there will be no producers of this rubbish. But I am afraid that the clients will always be there. So producers will find ways to make and sell their products.