28 arrested over pedophilia after agents pose as underage girls online

Tel Aviv District Police arrested 28 people on Tuesday morning suspected of engaging in sexually explicit interactions with underage girls.

According to a statement from the Israel Police, law enforcement conducted a two-month undercover investigation, which included two officers posing as 13-year-old girls on Instagram and WhatsApp.

Police said the suspects solicited sexual content from the undercover officers who were posing as minors, sent them explicit videos and photographs, and suggested meeting up with them.

In the arrest operation on Tuesday morning, more than 200 officers raided and searched the suspects’ homes, confiscating their phones and computers.

“Over the past few months, undercover activity has been carried out by agents at the Glilot Police Station in the Yarkon District on social media, against dozens of suspects linked to sex crimes,” said Chief Supt. Yaniv Wolowitz in a video statement.

During the investigation, “a great deal of evidence was gathered which incriminated dozens of suspects,” he added. The arrest raids themselves also led to the discovery of a great deal of evidence bolstering the allegations, said Wolowitz.

The suspects are slated to appear on Tuesday at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.

The Israel Police shared screenshots from some of the conversations between the undercover agents and the suspects. In one, a suspect wrote to an agent, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, “I’m thinking about you and I miss you… I’m dying to hug you and kiss you, and you’ll feel me hot on you.”

The suspect also wrote: “I fell in love with a 13-year-old girl, smart with a pure soul, who I can’t stop thinking about in every way,” adding, “you have to stay in contact, you’re important to me, I miss you.”