A police operation this week in France led to the arrest of 80 people suspected of being involved in a network of sexual abuse of minors that included people from all walks of life. A total of 80 men, including an elected politician, two teachers and a hostel guard, were arrested this week in France.
The operation is on a scale “unseen” in France, Commissioner Quentin Bevan, head of the operational unit of the juvenile office (Ofmin) of the judicial police, who coordinated the operation, told AFP.
The police investigated people who were in regular contact with children and two school teachers, several sports coaches and a guard at a shelter for children with disabilities, among others, were arrested.
One of the teachers had “photos and videos of his students with sexual connotations, and had sexualized these images,” Bevan detailed. The teacher is also accused of having sexually assaulted at least one of his students, he adds.
Among the accused, aged between thirty and over sixty, “there are from elected politicians to an unemployed person, including an engineer,” said the commissioner. “In crimes of sexual abuse of minors there is no typical profile, we find all socio-professional categories,” he added.
“More than 100,000” videos and photos of child abuse were found in the homes of several of the suspects, according to police. Images were stored on computers, hard drives or other digital media. Some of the content was “extremely violent,” the commissioner said.