A coordinated international police operation has uncovered a network of men who drugged and sexually assaulted their partners, leading to 57 arrests across multiple countries, according to Europol. The investigation, named Project Medusa, was led by German and British authorities and involved law enforcement agencies from Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. The suspects used encrypted messaging services, forums, and closed chat groups to exchange detailed accounts of the assaults, share advice on obtaining sedatives, and circulate videos of the abuse.

Europol stated that 156 individuals have been identified as either victims or perpetrators, while 158 alleged victims have been safeguarded from further harm. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) reported that eight men have been arrested in Britain and eight victims identified there, following 15 intelligence packages sent to domestic forces. The NCA linked more than 270 individuals to one particular online forum and its offshoots, and has dispatched 210 intelligence packages to police forces globally. The agency described a “truly international network” in which the abuse was normalised and coordinated.

The operation follows the high-profile conviction of Dominique Pelicot in France, who for years drugged his wife and invited strangers to rape her. Europol noted that the communications uncovered in the current probe “reveal detailed planning” and demonstrate that “these crimes are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of organised and interconnected behaviour.” German authorities observed that the perpetrators often exploited positions of professional or personal trust, making the abuse particularly difficult to detect, as victims frequently had no memory of the assaults.

Discrepancies remain in the total number of victims and suspects. While Europol cited 156 identified individuals, the NCA’s figure of over 270 linked to a single forum suggests a wider pool of potential offenders. The number of ongoing investigations also varies, with British officials reporting 14 separate probes in the UK and abroad, and other European sources citing 15 parallel case files. Law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Channel caution that drug-facilitated sexual assault is likely under-detected and under-reported, and that the true scale of the phenomenon is not yet known. Investigations are continuing.