Pedophile site dismantled: more than 300 arrests in 38 countries around the world

The dismantling of a pedophile site that was making an unprecedented trade in child sexual abuse videos led to 337 arrests in 38 countries and the indictment of its South Korean manager in the United States, announced Wednesday. British and American authorities.

Site based in South Korea

The arrests were made in connection with a website, based in South Korea, which was "one of the first to offer the sale of disgusting videos" can be paid with cryptocurrency bitcoin, according to a statement from the British agency fighting organized crime.

According to US justice, which charged Wednesday the manager of the site Welcome To Video, the latter represented "the largest market for sexual exploitation of children in terms of volumes of content". He collected 250,000 videos, many of which were unknown until then, which have been downloaded more than a million times, according to the US Department of Justice. It was run from South Korea by 23-year-old Jong Woo Son, who has already been imprisoned in his country and was charged on Wednesday in the United States.

"At least 23 miners saved"

The operation "saved at least 23 miners" living in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom who were victims of sexual abuse by users of the site.

The site was housed on the "dark web", this set of encrypted and hidden networks within the Internet part not referenced by conventional search engines. British investigators discovered the site as part of the investigation against a geophysicist, Matthew Falder, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence after recognizing in 137, 137 offenses including the incitement to rape children, and for sharing images of sexual abuse of a newborn, according to British police.

The UK, seven men have already been convicted, including one to 22 years in prison for raping a five-year-old boy, as well as the sexual assault of a three-year-old girl who appeared on the site.