Police in Germany and Paraguay arrested four people associated with running the largest-known online depository of child pornography, a website that had more than 400,000 users worldwide, NBC News reports.
Three people between the ages of 40 and 68 were arrested in Germany, with the fourth arrested in Paraguay who will be extradited to Germany. One of those arrested in Germany, a 64-year-old from Hamburg, reportedly personally uploaded more than 3,500 images.
The people running the site instructed users on how to avoid detection and arrest. “Furthermore, members of the platform received safety instructions from them for secure surfing on ‘Boystown’ in order to minimize the risk of discovery by law enforcement authorities,” the BKA, Germany’s national law enforcement agency, said.
Authorities took the web server offline, along with an unspecified number of chat rooms where members would exchange images. Europol, the international European police agency, assisted in the monthslong investigation alongside authorities in the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Canada.
The crackdown happened in Germany, where QAnon conspiracists believe the servers from the 2020 presidential election were shipped to rig the election against Donald Trump. QAnon did not respond to smoke signals for comment.