A European police operation identifies 158 cases of rapes with chemical submission through online forums

BarcelonaAn investigation led by the police forces of Germany and the United Kingdom has identified 158 cases of drug-facilitated rapes, a practice known as chemical submission. The so-called Operation Medusa, coordinated by Europol, has so far led to 57 arrests and provided protection to 158 victims, almost all of them women, who in many cases did not know they had been raped due to the effect of drugs. The investigation has opened leads in 274 more cases. This form of sexual assault came to light thanks to Gisèle Pelicot's denunciation, who in 2024 wanted to make public that her husband and 71 other men had raped her after sedating her for years.

"The investigation has uncovered online networks in which perpetrators objectify and dehumanize victims," Europol said in a statement released this Thursday. The operation of these networks is based on forums and encrypted messaging systems and closed chat groups, where offenders "exchange experiences, normalize their abusive behavior, facilitate the trafficking and prescription of medications and narcotics, and coordinate their crimes," Europol points out. The existence of these chats had already been proven in the police investigation in France in the Pelicot case.

Now the European police confirm that in these chats of the dark web the perpetrators share materials and use them to plan and make their crimes more brutal: "They demonstrate that they are not isolated cases but part of a broader pattern of organized and interconnected conduct." Police from Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, France, the United States, Canada, and Brazil have collaborated in the operation.

Repeated violations in the inner circle

These crimes follow the same pattern as the Pelicot case, in which she was sedated and raped by her husband, who offered her to 70 other men for over a decade. Most victims didn't even know they had been raped, the perpetrators are part of their closest circle, and the rapes have been repeated over long periods of time. According to the police, the victims were sedated with "amateur" mixtures of painkillers and other medications with alcohol. "Many victims didn't even know they had been sexually assaulted – the German police say in a statement –. This is because the sedatives and painkillers they were given prevent them from remembering the events or immediately feeling the physical effects of the rape." In the Pelicot case, her husband accompanied her on a tour of gynecologists and psychiatrists to treat the mental effects of the drugs he administered to her, and none of the healthcare professionals who treated her detected signs of abuse, nor were specific tests carried out for the venereal diseases she had contracted in the repeated rapes.

For this reason, the police encourage women who suspect they may have been subjected to this type of abuse to report it and consult a doctor. Some indicators may include sleeping for many hours, disorientation or lethargy upon waking up in the morning, memory gaps, or physical problems without a clear explanation, such as injuries or bruises, nausea, and sexually transmitted diseases.