Two detained in Bulgaria in large-scale European operation against child pornography

Thirty-one people have been arrested in France and other countries in Europe, including Bulgaria, for taking part in a child pornography network distributed on the encrypted chat app "Signal", Agence France-Presse reports.

Between November 13 and 17, 10 people were arrested in Spain, five in Hungary, four in Belgium, two in Bulgaria and ten in France. Arrests are expected soon in Finland, Romania and Ukraine.

The arrests were made in mid-November. More than 200,000 files were found during the operation to disrupt the network.

The operation came about after a tip-off from the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a 30-year-old man living in southwest France. An investigation ensued involving undercover French gendarmes. Footage was reviewed, some of it particularly difficult to watch. On the basis of these, some 700 persons of 73 different nationalities were identified. More than 70 people were involved in the investigation, including 25 specialists in the field of new technologies.

Some of those arrested were accused of rape and corruption of minors. A Hungarian pediatrician, tourists who travelled to Thailand, a radio presenter and a former teacher at Mayotte are among the detained.