The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has today concluded an investigation of a large scale pedophile crime ring, who drugged, raped and abused young boys. The suspects have recorded their crimes on film and in photos.
The victims have been six Finnish boys aged 6 – 15. The suspects are five Finnish men.
– The investigation started during fall 2017, when the police received a tip from a foreign authority. The tip led to an investigation and several searches, which could expose the ring. Later, one of the persons who had their property searched became our prime suspect, says Chief investigator Sanna Springare.
Crimes went on for over 10 years
A total of 70 suspected crimes have been revealed by the police from seized child pornographic material. Some of the suspects have received and shared media with sexual abuse of children, while other suspects have recorded their abuse of children and shared it with other members of the ring.
The crimes being suspected are gross sexual abuse, severe rape, severe spreading of child pornography, possession of large amounts of child pornography, narcotics offences and visiting performances of child pornography. The crimes went on for over 10 years, between 2004 and 2018.
– The suspects can be described as following: one suspect is the is the main perpetuator, two are suspected to have participated in the crimes, one suspect is a crime novice and one is suspected of bringing the material to Finland. According to our investigation, all of the suspects have connections to the main perpetuator, who were in control of a big part of the crimes and networked in large parts of Finland and in foreign countries, Springare says.
According to the NBI the suspects are persons who wouldn’t draw any attention.
– The suspects wouldn’t stand out in a crowd. They are employed and in no way marginalised, Springare says.
NBI says it is organised crime
All suspects have been released from police custody. According to Springare the investigation has gone on for so long that it is not possible to hold them in custody anymore.
– You can call it a network. You can even call it organised crime. The prime suspect have in many cases been an organiser and leader. He has surrounded himself with like minded people to perpetuate these crimes.
The NBI says all victims have been groomed because of their close relationships to the prime suspect. Some of them have been drugged with methamphetamine (crystal meth) during the abuse.
Police seized 412 hours of child pornography videos
Authorities from a total of 17 nations have been involved in the investigation. The Finnish police has seized gigantic amounts of media with violent sexual abuse of children – between 75 and 100 terabytes consisting of 412 hours of video and over 4000 pictures.
– The emphasis in this material is on the use of violence. Some of the exploitations have been broadcasted live, it has been possible to follow the crimes in real time online as they were committed. Some of the Finnish victims have also became victims of the broadcasting, Springare says.
Today the National Bureau of Investigations handed over their report to the prosecutor, a total of 16 protocols. In one of the worst cases a child was drugged and raped for 10 hours.
– There is no doubt that the child had been drugged with methamphetamine, says Springare.
According to the NBI, the abuse had elements of satanism and nazism, as well as other perversions, which they decline to go into further detail on.