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900 Arrested In Huge Dark Web Paedophile Ring

900 Arrested In Huge Dark Web Paedophile Ring

The creator was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Josh Teal

Josh Teal

Up to 900 members of a dark web paedophile ring stretching across the globe have been arrested following a two-year investigation.

The FBI and Europol revealed that 350 of the arrests, were in America alone.

Europe accounts the majority of the convictions with 386 suspects. Other countries named in the operation included Turkey, Peru, Chile, Israel and Malaysia.

EU Commissioner for the Security Union, Sir Julian King, said "a hugely significant blow has been struck against one of the most heinous of crimes, arguably the worst of all, thanks to the excellent transnational cooperation of Europol with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as other law enforcement agencies around the world."

The arrests were in connection with the Playpen network, accessible in the 'darknet'.

The FBI used malware to seize the Playpen website and server.

Unbelievably, some privacy advocates have criticised the investigation. Officials rejected the argument.

Image: PA

"Those individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children are becoming increasingly forensically aware and are actively using the most advanced forms of anonymisation and encryption to avoid detection," said Steven Wilson, head of Europol's Cybercrime Centre, in a statement.

"The internet has no boundaries and does not recognize borders. We need to balance the rights of victims versus the right to privacy. If we operate 19th century legal principles then we are unable to effectively tackle crime at the highest level," he added.

The founder of Playpen, 58-year-old Steven Chase from Florida, created the site in August 2014 on the Tor network.

In December 2014, he managed to slip by revealing the unique IP address. The blunder was noticed by a foreign law enforcement agency, which then notified the FBI.

Image: PA

"From that point we took normal investigative steps-seized a copy of the website, served search warrants for e-mail accounts, followed the money-and everything led back to Steven Chase," said Special Agent Dan Alfin.

"It's ongoing and we continue to address the threat to the best of our abilities. It's the same with any criminal violation: As they get smarter, we adapt, we find them. It's a cat-and-mouse game, except it's not a game. Kids are being abused, and it's our job to stop that."

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