Police break up child sex abuse ring in Barcelona
Mossos d'Esquadra make 16 arrests after two-year investigation
Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, have dismantled a child sex abuse ring in Barcelona who committed group sexual assaults on children under the age of 16.
The minors were found by the abusers on social media and on dating apps.
The perpetrators also produced child pornography and prostituted minors.
After a two-year investigation, 16 sexual predators have been arrested while 14 remain to be identified. Police have located 11 of the victims, two girls and nine boys, but investigations continue to find 14 more.
"The perpetrators knew their victims were underage," said Mossos inspector Josep Antoni López Garzón at a press conference on Friday.
"There's no possibility here of 'I was confused' or 'I thought they were an adult,' he added.
The sexual assaults took place at the home of the main suspect, in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona.
The investigation by the Mossos began at the end of 2021 based on the complaint of a 12-year-old victim who had been sexually assaulted, with other minors, by the main suspect between May 2020 and October 2021.