Eight men in the UK have been arrested for allegedly sedating and raping their partners, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said amid an investigation into an international network where sexual abuse is shared online.
Leading an international collaboration with partners across Europe, the NCA has identified 270 individuals linked to a “truly international network” of men drugging and sexually assaulting women, the agency said.
The alleged offenders often exploited “trusting and long-term relationships”, the NCA said, drawing a parallel to the Gisele Pelicot case in France whose husband invited over 50 men to their home in the south of France to rape her while she was unconscious.
Shorts
Criminal networks often rely on online communities and offenders often migrate to encrypted messaging apps, invitation-only forums and smaller overseas websites to evade detection.
