Mexican police have arrested a Dutch citizen accused of being the leader of an international pedophile ring, Mexico City’s attorney general said on Monday.
The man, identified only as Nelson ‘N’, was caught “in flagrante delicto,” said Attorney General Ernestina Godoy, adding that he is the “possible leader of an international association of pedophiles created in 1982.”
The arrest was the result of a “broad investigation” by prosecutors in collaboration with the NGO Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), Godoy said in a video posted on social media.
The NGO, dedicated to combating the sexual exploitation of children, reported the Dutchman’s presence in Mexico to the authorities.
The group “had information that Nelson ‘N’ was in our country, possibly in order to expand his human trafficking and child pornography network,” Godoy said.
The investigation observed his “modus operandi and location” and made it possible to determine his routines, aimed at getting in touch with other possible pedophiles, the authorities said.
“A covert operation was carried out that allowed him to be detained in flagrante delicto” at a public transportation station near the central Bosque de Chapultepec park, Godoy added.
The prosecutor’s office is working on the investigation, which will be presented before a judge, and it has also requested consular assistance to “safeguard his rights as a foreigner,” Godoy said.
After arresting the suspect, authorities searched the place where he was believed to be staying in the north of the city and said they found photographs featuring child pornography, as well as computers, hard drives, memory cards and two Dutch passports.
According to the investigation, the subject had, between 2014 and 2021, promoted various publications on social media that advocated the legalization of sex with children.
Nelson “N” had been arrested several times in the Netherlands, the prosecutor said, but had been on the run since at least February of this year.
