PARIS (BN24) — A 55-year-old French national has been arrested and charged in France for orchestrating online child sex abuse in Colombia, as part of an extensive transnational investigation into livestreamed pedophile crimes, French prosecutors announced Saturday.
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the suspect faces a string of grave charges, including complicity in human trafficking involving minors under 15, rape and sexual assault of children — including incestuous acts — as well as possession, acquisition, and viewing of child pornography. He was formally charged this week and has been remanded into custody pending trial.
Authorities allege the man transferred over €30,000 (approximately $35,000 USD) to individuals in Colombia, paying for the live-streamed sexual abuse of children, some of whom have now been identified and placed under protective care. Prosecutors say the operation uncovered a network that included local abusers, intermediaries, and so-called ‘money runners’, all of whom were arrested in a coordinated action with Colombian law enforcement.
Weapons were also reportedly found in the suspect’s residence in France, although authorities have not yet clarified their connection to the broader investigation.
The case has drawn international attention to a particularly heinous form of child exploitation known as livestreaming abuse, where predators in wealthier nations commission sexual assaults on minors abroad in real-time. These crimes are often carried out by the victims’ own relatives in return for payment, with the abuse streamed live to the perpetrators.
“This kind of abuse is particularly insidious and difficult to detect, as it crosses borders and is often facilitated through encrypted digital transactions and private video platforms,” said a law enforcement source familiar with the case.
The prosecutor’s office stressed that this arrest marks a significant breakthrough in a multi-agency international effort to dismantle livestreaming pedophile rings. French and Colombian authorities cooperated closely to ensure the simultaneous arrests of the French suspect and his co-conspirators in Colombia, preventing further harm to vulnerable children.
Child protection advocates have long warned of the rising threat of online abuse-for-hire models, urging governments to expand monitoring of cross-border financial transactions and digital content sharing. The French suspect’s arrest now puts a spotlight on the global infrastructure enabling such crimes — and the urgent need for coordinated responses.
Legal proceedings in France are ongoing, and prosecutors say the suspect could face decades in prison if convicted on all charges. Meanwhile, authorities in Colombia continue working to identify additional victims and unravel further links in the abuse-for-profit network.
