A global network of rapists who drugged their victims has been uncovered in Europe.

Law enforcement agencies from seven countries, with the support of Europol, conducted an international operation, code-named Project Medusa, aimed at global online networks whose members drugged and sexualized women in their inner circle, Deutsche Welle reports.

As part of the investigation, which was centered at the headquarters of the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) in London, security forces were able to identify 156 criminals and their victims, as well as identify four new misogynistic online communities.

A large-scale investigation began after German journalists provided law enforcement officers with information about the existence of a specialized online platform in 2025. It turned out that we are not talking about isolated incidents, but about an extensive international structure, the participants of which communicated in closed forums and encrypted messengers. In these groups, men planned crimes in detail, shared experiences, distributed videos of abuse, coordinated actions, and illegally distributed prescription drugs and narcotic substances to suppress the will of victims.

According to investigators, similar crimes have been committed for years. The criminals cynically took advantage of their position of trust or professional authority by cohabiting with or knowing their victims intimately. Similar schemes evoke direct associations with the high-profile case of the French woman Giselle Pelicot, who was drugged by her own husband for years and given to strangers for rape. After the trial of Dominique Pelicot in 2025, similar criminal networks began to be uncovered en masse throughout Europe, from Germany to the Netherlands.

To date, Project Medusa, launched in April 2026 under the leadership of Germany and the UK, has already made 57 arrests, including eight people detained directly in the UK. In addition, investigators were able to protect and secure 158 victims. Law enforcement agencies from the United States, Brazil, France, the Netherlands and Spain are also participating in the operation. Cases have been opened against the suspects not only under articles of rape, but also on charges of causing dangerous bodily harm and attempted murder, since deliberately putting a person into a state of deep unconsciousness poses a direct threat to life.