Police in seven countries have arrested 28 people in a coordinated operation against child sexual exploitation, with three children safeguarded.
The action, carried out from late May to mid-June 2026, took place in Canada, Czechia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland, Europol announced on Thursday.
Investigators seized more than 460 items during the operation, including electronic devices, crypto wallets, drugs and large quantities of doping substances.
All of the suspects are men aged between 22 and 54. One suspect was reported to have used artificial intelligence to generate illegal material, while some victims were part of another suspect’s immediate family.
Police believe the suspects used cryptocurrency — digital money such as Bitcoin — to pay for access to dark web forums, where they could download or view videos of children being abused.
The men are expected to face charges for storing, acquiring and sharing child sexual abuse material.
Cryptocurrency tracing led investigators to suspects
The investigation was led by Norwegian law enforcement, which developed a method in 2025 to trace cryptocurrency transactions that was used to identify people paying for access to child sexual abuse material in this operation, Europol said.
Two sellers of such material were also identified using the tracing method.
The operation is ongoing and further arrests are expected.
Europol said it supported the investigation by coordinating across countries and helping analyse and cross-check information, as well as assisting Norwegian authorities in distributing evidence packages to participating agencies.
