France detains 80 people in the biggest operation against pedophilia

Around 80 men, including a local councilor and two teachers, were detained this week in France's biggest-ever crackdown on suspected child sex abusers, police sources said. Police made arrests in 53 of France's 101 departments, Commissioner Quentin Bevan told AFP on Saturday. The arrested men, whose ages range from about 30 to over 60, come from a wide spectrum of society, from an elected official to a welfare recipient. "There is no typical profile in child sex crimes. It comes across all walks of life,” Bevan said.

He heads the operational part of the Office for Juveniles of the Judicial Police, which coordinates the operation. The "unprecedented" crackdown focuses on occupations where adults are in regular contact with children, the commissioner explained. This allowed them to detain, among others, two teachers, several sports coaches and a supervisor at a center for disabled children. One of the teachers was in possession of "photos and videos stolen from his students" and was suspected of pedophilia over at least one of them, Bevan said. About a dozen others are suspected of raping or sexually abusing minors. The supervisor at the disability center was convicted of rape "several decades ago" but was allowed to change his identity, allowing him to have contact with children again, Bevan said.

"Online child sexual abuse is not just about single people surfing the internet... (Some) have committed crimes in real life or are on the verge of doing so," he added. "We're not just talking about virtual images," Martin Bruce, head of the Voice of the Child organization, told BFM television. "Vulnerable children were raped and many suffered acts of torture and barbarism." Police are searching "more than 100,000" videos and pictures on computers or hard drives. Some were "extremely violent" and involved "sexual acts on infants or children sexually abused by animals," Bevan said. "This is the worst kind of abomination," he said.

All the suspects admitted the facts presented to them while in police custody, although some tried to downplay or deny responsibility. Some were in the process of destroying their computers with hammers when police arrived, Bevan said.

Of these, 51 men appeared before the court, of which 13 are in prison. Another 38 are under judicial supervision. The rest have been released pending further examination of the evidence. The Interior Ministry said the investigation is ongoing. /BGNES