Politics
NEW: Kash Patel’s FBI Busts Satanic Child Abuse Operation
Since the early 1980s, federal law enforcement officials have probed the despicable connection between Satanic worshippers and horrific crimes, including child abuse and ritualistic murders.
Those fears were realized once again when FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Wednesday that authorities have broken up a human smuggling ring with connections to the Church of Satan that is responsible for the selling and exploitation of children.
Leanoidis Varagiannis, known online as “War”, 21, and Prasan Nepal, or “Trippy,” 20, were arrested as ringleaders of the operation, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release announcing the conclusion of its international manhunt. Varagiannis, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in Greece on Monday while Nepal was arrested in North Carolina on April 22.
Patel stated, “Working with [the DOJ] and [Attorney General Pam Bondi], I can now report the FBI and our partners have arrested two individuals on charges of operating an international child exploitation enterprise.”
“This is a significant case in our renewed mission to crack down on child sexual exploitation and abuse — heinous crimes that no child or parent should ever be faced with,” he added.
The FBI alleges that the online extremist group was responsible for goading at-risk children into “setting themselves on fire, abusing their pets or siblings, and even suicide.”
Bondi said the reign of both culprits was “built on terror, abuse, and the deliberate targeting of children.”
Andrew Rust, an FBI special agent who led the search for both men, described in an affidavit how they “methodically targeted” underage girls with mental health struggles, connecting with them online before arranging visits where they would extort and ultimately compel them into self-harm.
Victims of the Satanic ring were found to have inflicted “cut signs” and “blood signs” on their own bodies.
A subgroup, known as 764 Inferno, was responsible for posting instructions online, teaching other members how to exploit “vulnerable minor children” by way of extortion and blackmail, the Telegraph reports.
Five other co-conspirators were identified by Rust, including one man who allegedly shared a video of a partially-clothed young girl setting herself on fire.
Varagiannis is said to have written back after seeing the video, “I’m weak” and “I’m literally rolling rn [right now].”
“Members of 764 have also engaged in acts of real-world violence, such as destroying property, spray painting 764 monikers and iconography on public buildings, physical abuse of animals, and physical assaults on people, including stabbings and attempted murder,” the affidavit said.
Varagiannis has denied his involvement and is fighting extradition from Greece, while a pubic defender for Nepal did not return a request for comment by the outlet.
“The FBI and our partners are determined to protect juveniles from predators, and we will track down and hold accountable those who engage in these criminal activities,” Patel said in another statement. “We will continue to work closely with our partners at the Department of Justice to bring justice to the victims of such cruel abuse.”
Edward R Martin Jr, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, called the case “every parent’s worst nightmare” and credited Patel and Bondi with bringing the yearslong manhunt to a close.
“The number of victims allegedly exploited by these defendants, and the depths of depravity, are staggering,” he said. “Justice demands that our response be swift in order to ensure public safety, hold the wrongdoers accountable, and bring the victims some sense of closure so they can heal.”
