Europol operation nets 28 arrests in seven-country child exploitation investigation

Authorities across seven countries arrested 28 men and rescued three children in a Europol-coordinated operation from late May to mid-June 2026 targeting child sexual exploitation across Canada, Czechia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. Led by Norwegian law enforcement using a cryptocurrency-tracing method developed in 2025, the investigation identified individuals who paid for access to dark web forums where child sexual abuse material was available for download or streaming, seizing more than 460 items including electronic devices and crypto wallets. Europol reported that one suspect extensively used artificial intelligence to generate illegal material, some victims were immediate family members of another suspect, and two alleged sellers of abuse material were also identified; further arrests are expected.

The Guardii anti-CSAM detection module, which includes capability to identify AI-generated and deepfake abuse material, could have flagged the production and attempted distribution of such content at the point it was uploaded or shared, rather than relying on post-hoc investigation of payment flows to dark web marketplaces. Real-time detection of CSAM sharing patterns across major platforms, together with the anti-grooming capability that surfaces escalation and coercion within family or trusted-adult relationships, provides a forward defence that surfaces harm as it emerges rather than waiting for a victim to be identified in archived footage. Guardii, backed by Startmate, blocks or flags hostile contact before it reaches a target and enables rapid escalation to the right authority in an emergency, translating pattern recognition into intervention before material circulates or abuse escalates.