Germany Shuts Down International Child Pornography Site
Voice of America
03 May 2021, 23:35 GMT+10
Germany has shut down one of the biggest darknet child pornography platforms in the world and arrested four of its members, authorities said on Monday.
In a series of raids in mid-April, German police arrested three men between the ages of 40 and 64 while and another suspect was detained in Paraguay on the request of German authorities, Frankfurt prosecutors said in a joint statement with the Federal Criminal Police Office.
The website, known as Boystown, world s largest for child pornography with more than 400,000 users, had existed since at least mid-2019. It was set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography, in particular images of the abuse of boys, the statement said.
Prosecutors in Germany say they have busted one of the biggest darknet platforms in the world for child pornography.
Authorities said the Boystown site was used by more than 400,000 registered members.
Paedophiles used the platform to exchange and view pornography involving children and toddlers, most of them boys, from all over the world, they added.
Investigators said they found images of most severe sexual abuse of toddlers among the photos and video material.
Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement together with the Federal Criminal Police Office that in mid-April three German suspects, said to be the administrators of the platform, were arrested along with a German user. One of the three main suspects was arrested in Paraguay.
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According to German tabloid newspaper
Bild, the investigation was initiated by the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Investigations in France were crucial. Specialists in the country analyzed messages sent through the now-defunct encrypted messaging service EncroChat.
In many cases, chat pseudonyms were traced to several suspects in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony.
Raids leading to arrests were carried out in Hannover and around the town of Celle, in the same state, according to a police statement.
Raids also went ahead in the city of Halle in the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt, the major port city of Hamburg as well as in Baltic country Latvia.