# How the police took down a ring of paedos **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797 "2016-07-13T09:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/1 "2016-07-13T09:42:12Z")
Not a nice subject but very much worth reading. > **[The takeover: how police ended up running a paedophile site](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/13/shining-a-light-on-the-dark-web-how-the-police-ended-up-running-a-paedophile-site)** > > Exclusive: the inside story of a police operation that secretly took over a child abuse forum in a six-month sting, and the stunning breakthrough that led them to snaring Richard Huckle, ‘Britain’s worst-ever paedophile’ > [@](#): > > It was one of the world’s largest and most secure paedophile networks – an online space where tens of thousands traded horror. > > The website dealt in abuse; video and images of children, swapped and boasted about on a dark-web forum, accessible only through an encrypted browser. > > Membership was tightly managed. Quiet accounts raised suspicion and could be suddenly terminated. Those who stayed had to upload new material frequently. More than 45,000 people complied. > > But what those thousands never realised, even as heavy users began to disappear, was that the site was being run by police. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/2 "2016-07-13T11:48:11Z")
Your right, not a very nice topic, but kudos to the cops who did a nasty job that probably stressed them more than we can imagine. I am not in favor of the death penalty, per se, I find it un-useful in preventing crime most time, but for these folks…I’m willing to go Medieval and have them Broken on the Wheel. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/3 "2016-07-13T12:07:05Z")
Give those cops medals. Look at their [logo](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/13/shining-a-light-on-the-dark-web-how-the-police-ended-up-running-a-paedophile-site#img-6). > [@](#): > > Its symbol is a scorpion, the natural predator of the rock spider, the Australian prison parlance for a child sex offender. We need that kind of vigilance worldwide. Take down that kind of scum wherever they are. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/4 "2016-07-13T12:31:06Z")
I think I would feel very proud to work in that kind of anti-criminal field; I don’t know if I could mentally handle it though. Props to them. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/5 "2016-07-13T14:27:54Z")
Hijack - here in South Africa , “rock-spider” is a slang term for a White Afrikaner/Boer by English South Africans. Which must confuse the heck out of visiting Australians. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-police-took-down-a-ring-of-paedos/759797/6 "2016-07-13T14:38:54Z")
I just wonder how many law enforcement organizations tried/succeeded in infiltrating it without being aware that it was a sting operation. But seriously, kudos again.