Reuters reports that police have arrested 50 people for using «secret group» in Facebook for the sale of illegal substances and weapons. Police also criticized the largest social network for inaction and lack of assistance with the investigation, which lasted 10 months.
Police did not disclose details of the charges that showed 50 arrested Thursday, but says there are still «dozens» of such groups. «Facebook is accountable to its users. They need to make sure that this will not happen again,» said superintendent of police Chicago Eddie Johnson. «And, frankly, they are not very friendly behave with law enforcement, has not expressed a desire to help with the prevention of such crimes».
Johnson expressed the hope that the public attention to this issue will force Facebook to deal with criminal activities of some users.
«Of course, they can afford to spend some money to ensure that it won’t happen again,» said Johnson.
Neither he nor Anthony Riccio, head of unit for combating organized crime, did not specify how long Facebook knew about the investigation. Riccio declined to say whether the police in connection with the company, saying that it was «still ahead.»
As said Riccio, «among those arrested was a primary school teacher, who was arrested at school in Chicago, where he seized the scales used for weighing drugs.»
«The informant warned investigators about alleged criminal activities on Facebook in February, after which the police organized the purchase of 17 different types of drugs and 18 different kinds of illegal firearms,» he added.
Investigators created a fake account on Facebook and entered a secret group to join in which is possible only after permission of the admin user, explained Riccio. Police monitor messages and communicated with team members, ostensibly to shop.
