Priest, 54 others, nabbed amid pedophile ring crackdown in France

International

FIFTY-FIVE men, including a priest and a music teacher, were arrested from all over France following a four-day, large-scale operation to dismantle a pedophile ring operating via the Telegram app, according to the Office for the Protection of Minors (OFMIN) in France.

In a report by CNN, the suspects, aged 25 to 75, were reportedly in contact with an “extremely dangerous” pedophile via Telegram, according to Quentin Bevan, head of OFMIN’s operational unit.

“These 55 individuals all exchanged CSAM imagery (Child Sexual Abuse Material) with the dangerous pedophile, so we had digital evidence implicating all of them,” said Bevan.

The pedophile in question had abused his own children and was incarcerated in 2024.

A ten-month “major investigation and infiltration operation” on the Telegram group preceded the arrest of the 55 men, who were found to possess, distribute, and regularly view pornography involving children “under the age of 10,” Bevan said.

“We had to follow the exchanges, analyze them, and identify the individuals hiding behind these Telegram pseudonyms — especially those who had children, had criminal records, or worked in sensitive professions involving contact with children,” he added.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August 2024 over the platform’s lax moderation policies, which allowed the circulation of illegal content including child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, scams, arms sales, money laundering, and the hiring of contract killers.

Durov later retorted that he should not be held accountable for others’ illegal use of Telegram but vowed to tighten the app’s moderation policies.

Bevan said Telegram had become more cooperative since Durov’s arrest, but he maintained that it continues to fall short of fully meeting its legal obligations. (John Ryan Ledesma, CTU-TC Intern)