Detectives in Britain say they have broken open an international network of men who sedated their partners before raping them, then shared videos and photos of the assaults in online chat groups.
The investigation, led by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), has already linked more than 270 suspects across dozens of countries to the crime, now officially termed organised drug-facilitated sexual assault (ODFSA).
According to the NCA, the offending typically happens inside long-term relationships, where a partner is drugged with sedatives or alcohol before being sexually assaulted, often without ever knowing it happened. In many cases, the abuse stretched across years, with victims only finding out after police contacted them or digital evidence surfaced.
Investigators began tracking one online forum in October 2025. Since then, the NCA has sent out more than 210 intelligence packages on suspects and potential victims to law enforcement partners in the UK and abroad, more than 90 percent of them to overseas agencies. That work has already opened at least 14 separate investigations in the UK and led to eight victims being safeguarded.
Nigel Leary, the NCA’s deputy director, said the scale of what officers have found is “deeply concerning.”
“We believe we have uncovered a truly international network with group members identified in dozens of countries spanning every continent,” Leary said. He described members swapping advice on which drugs to use, how to administer them without detection, and how to film assaults for other members to watch.
“This is no longer isolated behavior, but increasingly organized,” he added, warning that cases are “almost certainly under-detected and under-reported.”
The UK’s findings are tied to a wider cross-border effort called Project Medusa, a Europol-backed initiative launched in April 2026. Investigators from Britain, the United States, Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Spain met at NCA headquarters in London last week to compare intelligence on suspects, victims, and online groups.
That meeting alone identified more than 150 offenders and victims, opened 270 new international investigations, and uncovered four new online communities dedicated to the abuse. Europol says 57 arrests have been made so far.
Europol described the offenders as using encrypted apps, forums, and closed chat groups to trade tips, normalise the abuse, and in some cases arrange the illegal sale of prescription drugs used to sedate victims.
The case that started it all
The investigations follow the trial of Dominique Pelicot, a Frenchman sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2024 for drugging his then-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious over almost a decade. Fifty other men were convicted alongside him after a three-and-a-half-month trial in Avignon.
Gisèle Pelicot’s decision to waive her right to anonymity and face her abusers in open court turned her into a symbol for victims worldwide and pushed European authorities to look harder at similar cases.
Other convictions cited by investigators include:
- Fernando P., a German national, sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in 2025 for drugging and raping his unconscious wife over several years and sharing footage online.
- Zhenhao Zou, convicted in the UK in 2025 of raping 10 women in Britain and China after luring them through WeChat and dating apps. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years.
- A Polish man, arrested in April 2026, linked by local media to a Telegram group of nearly 1,000 members who shared advice on drugging and raping partners.
Helen Millichap, director of the UK’s National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, said many victims have no idea anything happened to them until police get in touch.
“If something doesn’t feel right, you do not need proof or a clear memory to seek help,” Millichap said, urging anyone who suspects they may have been targeted to come forward.
Siobhan Blake, the Crown Prosecution Service’s national lead for rape and serious sexual offences, called it some of the worst abuse she has encountered in a 25-year career.
“Victims are being subject to horrendous sexual offending in their own homes in an ultimate breach of trust,” Blake said. She added that prosecutors are already building cases from the intelligence gathered and working closely with police to bring offenders to court.
Leary had a direct message for anyone involved in the network: “If you drug, rape, facilitate rape, abuse, record abuse or coordinate these crimes online, we will identify you and your networks and bring you to justice.”
Authorities admit the true number of victims remains unknown. Officials describe the crime as thriving in secrecy, both inside households and inside closed online communities designed to evade detection.
In the UK, the NCA, the CPS, police forces, health services, and Sexual Assault Referral Centres are now working under a single coordinated response, building on reforms already introduced through Operation Soteria, which changed how rape cases are investigated nationwide.
For campaigners and survivors, the hope is that naming and prosecuting these networks publicly, the way Gisèle Pelicot’s case did in France, will encourage more victims to come forward.
