German Federal Police Dismantles International Child Pornography Network Via Cyberspace

Illustration. (Unsplash / NeONBRAND)

JAKARTA - German police announced that they had shut down one of the world's largest darknet child pornography platforms, arresting four of its members in a series of raids in mid-April.

The platform, known as Boystown, has been around since 2019 with more than 400,000 members and is set up for the worldwide exchange of child pornography.

"In particular the boy's abuse image," the federal police said in a statement, reported on Koreatimes, Tuesday, May 4.

"The darknet forum allows users to communicate with others, share graphic images and video content which includes serious sexual abuse of toddlers," the statement continued.

Three men aged between 40 and 64 were arrested in seven raids in Germany. Meanwhile another suspect was detained in Paraguay at the request of the German authorities.

The suspect in the Concepcion region of Paraguay, also a German national, will be extradited back to Germany under an international arrest warrant issued by a court in Frankfurt.

The three main suspects, aged 40, 49 and 58 respectively, are accused of managing the platform as administrators, providing technical support and advice to members on how to avoid being caught by the authorities.

Meanwhile, another suspect, a 64-year-old man from Hamburg, is one of the platform's most active users, having uploaded more than 3,500 times on the platform since registering in 2019.

"This sends a clear message. If you commit an offense against the weakest, you will not be safe anywhere," German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.

"We hold perpetrators accountable and do everything humanly possible to protect children from these abhorrent crimes," he stressed.