Senegal arrests 14 members of alleged paedophile gang

DAKAR, SENEGAL - Police in Senegal arrested 14 people and broke up a paedophile gang operating between the country and France, a statement from the force said Sunday.

Investigators "carried out a major operation, dismantling a transnational organised criminal group whose members are based primarily between France and Senegal," the statement said.

All 14 were brought before a judge on Friday, accused of "organised paedophilia, pimping, rape of minors under 15, sodomy, and intentional transmission of HIV/AIDS". All the defendants are Senegalese.

The statement added that the group, active since 2017, was accused of having forced young boys to have "unprotected and filmed sex" with men "most of whom were HIV-positive".

Four of the defendants were accused of having acted "on the instructions" of a Frenchman arrested in northern France in April 2025, "in exchange for money transfers".

Police carried out searches in several neighbourhoods of Dakar and in the city of Kaolack, 200 kilometres (124 miles) southeast of Dakar.