London: London police arrested a 29-year-old Indian after a 'hunters' group identified him as a paedophile, who sent sexually explicit messages and photos to two minor girls.
Francisco Pereira, originally from Panaji, was arrested on December 29 from Southall, a suburb of London, after being snared by the Wolf Pack Hunting
UK group, which exposes paedophiles by setting up fake profiles of children online. He is now being investigated by British detectives.
Pereira, who works as a warehouse operative at a Heathrow-based transport and logistics company, was detained while he was allegedly on his way to meet two 12-year-old girls for sex. He had previously messaged the girls on several online platforms and set up a meeting but the girls were Wolf Pack volunteers, who were posing as minors.
When Pereira reached the meeting spot, he was met with Phil Anderson, co-founder of Wolf Pack Hunting and his team of 'hunters'.
Pereira had sent photos of what he was wearing to the girls, enabling the 'hunters' to identify and catch him.
Anderson told TOI that they had told Pereira the girls' age straightaway but he "did not have a problem" with it.
"Are you good at keeping secrets? Nobody should know until you are 19," Pereira allegedly told them.
"The most serious offence he committed was the intent to meet minors who are pre-teens following grooming which is a really serious offence in the UK," Anderson said.
"Our evidence is rock solid. We have 11 people remanded in custody so far and all but two pleaded guilty when they went to court. We do a lot of background before we confront people. We are trying to protect our kids. We are a group of normal people, grandparents, uncles and aunts. A lot of the people in our team are survivors or the parents of survivors so there is a reason for doing it," he added.
In a video the hunters posted online of the arrest, Pereira said he had lived in the UK for three years and was sending money to his parents to build a house in Goa. "I wanted to meet them because I wanted to know if they are real or not. I know I am wrong. I wanted to see them, that's it," he says in a 10-minute long video.
The Met Police confirmed that a man was apprehended in Montague Waye, Southall on December 29 following contact with a child online.
"Officers attended and arrested the man aged in his late twenties. He was arrested on suspicion of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming of a child under 16. He was taken into custody at a north London police station. He has since been released but is under investigation by officers from Ealing CID," said an officer.
