The German judicial police announced today that it has dismantled a child pornography network on the 'Darknet', described as one of "the largest in the world", with more than 400,000 members.
The taking down of the "BOYSTOWN" platform, which was apparently created in 2019, happened in mid-April with four suspects being arrested, according to the police statement.
Three Germans were detained after months-long investigations by a special German police unit, coordinated by Europol and with the collaboration of Dutch, Swedish, Australian, American and Canadian police authorities.
Another citizen, resident in Paraguay, was the subject of an international arrest warrant that ordered him to be handed over to the German authorities.
"The platform had an international reach and served to exchange pornography of minors among its members", mainly photos or videos of abusive behaviour committed against boys. Among them were "images of serious sexual abuse of very young children," the police said.
The three detainees, aged 40, 49 and 58, respectively, are suspected of "having been the administrators of the child pornography platform". In addition to dealing with network management, they were responsible for "monitoring customers", added the authorities.
The fourth element, a 64-year-old man, the police say is one of the most active users of the platform and has written more than 3,500 messages.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
