55 men arrested in Telegram-linked paedophile ring in France

Fifty-five men have been arrested in France this week as part of an operation to dismantle a suspected paedophile ring operating via the Telegram messaging app, authorities said Thursday.

The arrests took place in 42 departments over possession, distribution and regular viewing of pornography involving children “under the age of 10”, France’s OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, told AFP.

The arrests, which followed a ten-month investigation, took place from Monday to Thursday. The suspects, aged 25 to 75, include a priest, a paramedic and a music teacher.

The men exchanged messages on Telegram and were in contact with “extremely dangerous” paedophiles who have been in prison since last summer, Quentin Bevan, head of the OFMIN’s operational unit, told AFP.

Months of undercover work

The large-scale operation began last summer with the arrest of individuals suspected of abusing children and posting images on Telegram.

ALSO READ: Child pornography case: It took 40 days for authorities to download material seized from couple

“It took ten months of investigation to track down these child abusers,” Bevan said. “Ten months of undercover work involving thousands of exchanges, analysis and detection of paedophile images by a task force set up at the OFMIN.”

Durov’s arrest and Telegram’s legal challenges

The office issued the warrant that led to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Paris in 2024, and he remains under formal investigation by French authorities over illegal content on the popular service.

After days of questioning, Durov was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content.

Investigators have confronted Durov with cases ranging from child abuse to drug trading, scams, arms sales and the hiring of hitmen.

Durov has since announced steps appearing to bow to Paris’s demands.

ALSO READ: 40-year-old stepfather sentenced to 15 years for sexual grooming and child pornography

While Bevan acknowledged progress in Telegram’s cooperation with investigators since Durov’s arrest, he said the platform was “barely fulfilling its legal obligations”.

Accusations of censorship

Durov has recently accused the chief of France’s DGSE foreign intelligence service of requesting to ban pro-conservative Romanian accounts from the platform ahead of elections.

The DGSE has rejected the claims.

Durov says Telegram has sought to fight against child abuse for years.

“Falsely implying Telegram did nothing to remove child porn is a manipulation tactic,” he posted on X earlier this week.

NOW READ: KZN man working in US arrested for allegedly distributing child porn