The Israel Police on Sunday shut down a massive pedophile ring, arresting 33 suspects.
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The operation, labeled "highly complex" by police officials privy to its details, was in play for over four months across various social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, Israel National News reported.
As part of the opertion, police officers posed as 13-year-old girls online and tracked sexual predetors who tried to hunt down young girls on social media.
According to the police, the agents, whose accounter were opened under the monikers "Lee" and "Kim," were approached online by hundreds of men. Some messages included sexual explicit content, genital photos, and videos of a blatantly sexual nature, as well as offers to pay for sex.
On Sunday, hundreds of police officers accompanied by cyber investigators raided the homes of the 33 suspects from across the country, making arrests and confiscating laptops and smartphones allegedly used to contanct the "girls" and distribute pedophilia materials, as evidence.
The police said that arrests were made in Rahat, Elad, Jerusalem, Tuba, Nazareth, Deir al-Assad, Eilat, Beersheba, Haifa, Givatayim, Turan, Shefar'am and Petach Tikva.
According to the report, several of the suspects have a criminal record and have even spent time in prison for sexual offenses.
The police plan to arraign them before the Magistratess Court in Nazareth throughtout the week.
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