Police have arrested 14 suspects in connection with Europe’s largest child pornography platform on the darknet, a hidden part of the internet where users largely remain anonymous.
Of the suspects, 12 are being accused of sexually abusing children, the state prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt and Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) said on Friday in Wiesbaden.
The so-called “Elysium” platform, which the prosecutor said on Thursday had been shut down after an investigation lasting several weeks, had more than 87,000 members.
Elysium was oriented towards an international audience with chat areas in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian, and was used
for exchanging pornography as well as coordinating meetings to abuse children.
The platform had been constructed on the darknet, an underground internet that can only be accessed using tools which help shield the users’ identity and online activities.
The darknet is commonly used for clandestine activities such as file-sharing networks, child pornography, weapons purchases, the
drugs trade and internet terrorism.
The European Union’s law enforcement agency, Europol, and authorities in Austria, Italy, New Zealand and Australia supported the Elysium
investigation.
