An international law enforcement operation involving seven countries has uncovered highly organised criminal networks in which offenders allegedly drug and sexually assault their partners before sharing evidence of the abuse through encrypted online groups.
The operation, known as Project Medusa, is being coordinated by Europol and involves authorities from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Canada, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain.
According to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the investigations have exposed online communities where predominantly male offenders exchange information on how to drug victims, avoid detection, obtain prescription medication and narcotics, and share videos and images of the assaults.
Authorities said many victims were unaware they had been sexually assaulted until they were contacted by investigators, as the alleged perpetrators were often people they knew and trusted. In some cases, multiple connected offenders were involved in the abuse.
Since the launch of Project Medusa in April, investigators have identified more than 150 suspects and victims and generated over 270 new investigative leads. However, officials believe the true scale of the crimes is significantly greater, warning that such offences remain substantially underreported.
Nigel Leary, Deputy Director of the UK’s National Crime Agency, said drug-facilitated sexual assault had evolved into a more organised form of criminality requiring a coordinated international response.
Europol said offenders use encrypted messaging platforms, online forums and closed chat groups to exchange experiences, normalise abusive behaviour, facilitate the illegal trade in controlled substances and coordinate criminal activities. The agency added that the perpetrators sought to dehumanise their victims, with some abuse continuing over many years.
The investigation follows growing international concern over drug-facilitated sexual offences, particularly after the widely publicised case of Gisèle Pelicot in France. Her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in 2024 after orchestrating the repeated drugging and rape of his wife by dozens of men while she was unconscious. Fifty other defendants were also convicted in connection with the case.
In Germany, a man identified as Fernando P. was convicted last year of drugging and raping his unconscious wife over several years before sharing recordings of the abuse online. He was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.
More recently, in 2025, Zhenhao Zou was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 24 years after being convicted of raping 10 women in the UK and China. Prosecutors said he targeted women of Chinese heritage through WeChat and dating applications before luring them to his apartments, where they were drugged and sexually assaulted.
Siobhan Blake, the Crown Prosecution Service’s lead for rape and serious sexual offences, described the crimes as “some of the most horrifying” she had encountered during her career, saying victims were subjected to severe abuse in what should have been the safety of their own homes.
Breezy News reports that investigators have urged anyone who believes they may have been a victim of drug-facilitated sexual assault to contact the police, stressing that victims can come from any age group, background or community.
