"Wildfire in the KiPo scene": Police take down large abuse platform

Published on October 8, 2024

German prosecutors say they have successfully taken action against a darknet platform that was used to distribute images of child sexual abuse on a large scale. As part of a major operation from September 24 to 28, around 200 officers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein executed seven search warrants and arrested six suspects aged between 43 and 69, two of them in NRW.

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The investigators also seized extensive evidence in the form of 1,517 items of evidence such as laptops, PCs and cell phones as well as 94 moving boxes packed with video cassettes and DVDs. Special units, IT experts and data storage detection dogs were involved in the raids. The investigation and operation were led by the Duisburg police together with the Central and Contact Point for Cybercrime North Rhine-Westphalia (ZAC NRW).

All of the suspects arrested, who are said to be part of the platform's leadership team, are in custody. They are accused of "gang-like distribution of child pornography content". After initial evaluations of the confiscated material, investigators were able to identify active users worldwide "in the mid-six-figure range on the board", Duisburg police announced on Tuesday. The exact amount of data cannot yet be estimated. On one of the accused's computers alone, 13.5 terabytes can be viewed. For a photo with an average file size of 4 MB, this corresponds to around 3.4 million images. What the investigators have triggered is "not a flash in the pan, but a wildfire in the child porn scene", emphasized North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). The scene now has "one less playground for its disgusting activities".

North Rhine-Westphalia's Justice Minister speaks of "bombshell"

Reul is "quite certain" that "we will find more suspects". But the most important thing is to "prevent further abuse and free children who are currently still in the clutches of pedophiles. We are doing everything we need to do that." NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) spoke of a "bombshell". This sends an unmistakable message to all perpetrators of child abuse: "You cannot hide. Not behind four walls, not behind a pseudonym and not on the darknet."

The police found data storage devices in almost every form on one suspect: magnetic tapes, video cassettes, CDs, DVDs, hard drives and USB sticks. "For decades he has followed every technical innovation in order to get his material," explained Duisburg Police Chief Alexander Dierselhuis, according to WDR.

The investigations in the Ruhr region were preceded by the work of colleagues from Bavaria who were investigating another platform. In this context, there was a reference to a user from Duisburg who had registered but "hadn't done much there." The user became remorseful after registering on the portals and made his access data available for several platforms, which also got things rolling in NRW.

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Source: heise online