Eight arrested in UK probe into men drugging, raping partners
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The eight arrests in Britain are part of a probe into an international network of men drugging and sexually abusing women they know.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
- The UK’s National Crime Agency arrested eight people in a probe into an international network of men drugging and sexually abusing women they know.
- The NCA found over 270 individuals linked to organised drug-facilitated sexual assaults spanning dozens of countries and involving multiple ongoing investigations.
- The crimes are increasingly organised and digital platforms enable them, with victims often unable to report due to sedation and memory loss.
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LONDON – Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on July 2 that eight people have been arrested as part of a probe into an international network of men drugging and sexually abusing women they know.
The alleged offences are reminiscent of the high-profile case of Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by her then husband and by strangers for nearly a decade.
Since the 2025 trial and conviction of her former husband Dominique Pelicot, similar cases have come to light across Europe, from Germany to the Netherlands.
The NCA, which probes international and serious organised crime, said that it had uncovered a global network of predominantly men suspected of similar offences, known as organised drug-facilitated sexual assault.
Following a 2025 probe by German journalists into an online forum being used to facilitate such offences, the British crime agency found “a truly international network with group members identified in dozens of countries spanning every continent”, said NCA deputy director Nigel Leary.
The agency said it had identified more than 270 individuals linked to the forum and its offshoots.
The eight people were arrested as a result of the NCA probe into the platform, which was not named.
Last week, investigators from Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Europol met in London to share information on possible cases, NCA said.
“Drug-facilitated sexual assault is no longer isolated behaviour, but increasingly organised,” Leary said, adding that it was being enabled by digital platforms.
“The scale of what we have seen so far is deeply concerning,” Leary told journalists at a briefing.
He added that such crimes are often “under-detected and under-reported” because the victim may not remember the abuse as a result of being sedated.
Helen Millichap, director of the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, said that it is a “serious and evolving threat, rooted in domestic abuse”.
The online and connected nature of the abuse means the “dimensions are changing”, she added.
There are a total of 14 separate investigations ongoing in Britain and abroad.
In Stockport, Manchester, in the north-west, the husband of a woman who was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted is set to stand trial in September alongside 12 other men accused of taking part in the sexual abuse. AFP
