The arrests took place in 53 departments, including two overseas, told AFP Commissioner Quentin Bevan, head of the operational center of the new Juvenile Office (Ofmin) of the judicial police, who coordinated the operation.
Among those involved, aged around thirty to over sixty, “they range from the local elected official to the unemployed, including the engineer”, details the commissioner. “In child crime, there is no typical profile, we find all socio-professional categories.”
For this vast operation, on a scale “never before seen” in France according to the commissioner, the police targeted profiles in regular contact with children.
Two school teachers, sports coaches, or a supervisor in a home for children with disabilities were arrested.
One of the teachers had “stolen photos and videos of his students with sexual connotations. He had sexualized these images,” explains Mr. Bevan. The teacher is also accused of having sexually assaulted at least one of his students, he adds.
Like him, a “ten” of those arrested are also suspected of rape of minors or sexual assault.
The supervisor had been convicted of rape “several decades ago”. He had legally benefited from a change of identity, which explains why he was able to work again in contact with children, adds Mr. Bevan.
“This shows that online child crime is not just solitary activities on the internet”, some “have already taken action or risk doing so” in real life, continues the police officer.
More than 100,000 images
Among several suspects, “more than 100,000” child abuse videos and photos were found during the searches. The images were stored on computers, hard drives or other digital media.
Some content was “extremely violent”, underlines the commissioner, citing “sexual acts committed on infants, or children sexually abused with animals”. “We are in ‘the filth of the filth’,” adds the commissioner.
All those involved admitted the facts during their custody, even if some tried to downplay or exonerate themselves.
When the police and gendarmes arrived, some arrested were found downloading child criminal content. Others tried to break their computers “with a hammer.”
At the end of police custody for “detention, consultation, dissemination and sharing of child abuse images”, 51 men were presented to a judge. Among them, 13 were imprisoned. Some after having been sentenced to prison in immediate appearance, while others were placed in pre-trial detention while awaiting their judgment.
At this stage, 38 others have been placed under judicial supervision. Other police custody has been lifted, pending the exploitation of digital media.
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin welcomed on X a “great crackdown against child crime”. “Investigations are still ongoing,” he added.
