Fifty-five men from France were arrested between Monday and Thursday morning as part of a large-scale operation.
According to France’s Office for the Protection of Minors the crackdown was to demolish a paedophile network operating through the messaging service Telegram.
The suspects, aged between 25 and 75, have been accused of exchanging messages on the platform with an “extremely dangerous” child sex offender who was imprison in 2024.
How the Paedophile gang was arrested?
Quentin Bevan, head of the OFMIN’s operational unit shared that the arrests are “the fruit of a ten-month long investigation.”
The arrest was made over possession, distribution and regular viewing of pornography involving children under the age of 10.
“We had to follow the exchanges, analyse them, and identify the individuals hiding behind these Telegram pseudonyms – especially those who had children, had criminal records, or worked in sensitive professionals involving contact with children,” the authorities added.
Bevan revealed that the detained men belong to different backgrounds including military personnel, civil servants, and paramedics.
In France, the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material is punishable by a five-year prison sentence and a $112,747 fine.
In a statement to CNN, telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn noted that the company has taken “extensive measures to combat child abuse.”
Adding that more than 367,000 groups and channels related to child sex abuse material have been removed in just 2025.
Telegram has been under the negative spotlight in France for multiple incidents.
In August 2024, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained at Paris’s Bourget Airport on a warrant related to Telegram’s moderation policies.
