900,000 child pornography files seized by the gendarmes, six men placed in detention

According to information from France Inter, between April 2023 and early February 2024, six suspects were arrested, indicted and placed in pre-trial detention in this case.

Two encrypted messaging services dedicated to child pornography have been dismantled in recent days by the gendarmes of the Orléans research section (Loiret), who got their hands on more than 900,000 child pornography files, France Inter learned on Thursday February 22 from the police station. According to information from France Inter, at least 120 children and adolescents were victims, including 22 French children.

Between April 2023 and early February 2024, six suspects were arrested, indicted and placed in pre-trial detention in this case. These men, aged 36 to 61, are suspected of having committed the rapes and sexual assaults shown in some of the images. This investigation began in August 2022 after a report to the Loiret gendarmes of an internet page with photos of minors, some of whom are in swimsuits.

If these reported images flirt with legality, investigators ultimately realize that the page is actually the antechamber of darker messaging groups where some users are much more explicit. “Once you start talking to these individuals [qui alimentent la page]very quickly they will suggest that we switch to other, more discreet social networks or secure messaging systems.”explains to France Inter the director of investigation, Warrant Officer Damien, specialist in digital investigation. “Some suggest, for example, switching to the Russian ICQ network, where “the files exchanged are illegal”.

Six suspects placed in pre-trial detention

The gendarmes then realized that these images did not appear in any of the databases which allow the authorities to identify existing child pornography data. The members of the group are therefore suspected of having committed the violence visible in certain images and of having knowingly exposed the minors. In all, 200 files were identified by investigators. At this stage, 120 victims have been identified, 22 of whom are of French nationality and aged between 3 and 15 years old.

The gendarmes note that all exchanges in this group take place in French and that the victims are all French-speaking. “Typically, we are more on victims who are from Southeast Asia, South America and Central America; for a while we had a lot of [victimes] from Eastern Europe”notes Warrant Officer Damien.

The first arrests took place in April 2023 as part of an investigation carried out by the minor division of the Orléans public prosecutor’s office. Six suspects are placed in pre-trial detention. These men, aged 36 to 61, have diverse profiles: some are fathers, several were already known for similar acts. One of them is imprisoned in Belgium for a similar case. Some of those accused are suspected of having preyed on children around them, others on underage prostitutes, others pretended to be teenagers on the internet to seduce their victims until they obtained photos. naked and threatening to distribute them if they did not provide them with new images. Investigators are still analyzing the suspects’ computer equipment. By analyzing the digital media of three of them, they have already found more than 930,000 child pornography files.