A Belgian man from West Flanders has been taken in by police for questioning after he was caught in the woods attempting to meet with a 12-year-old girl, reported De Standaard. In reality, the Belgian had been ambushed by a Dutch man who intended to expose him.
A video on Sunday evening appeared on the Facebook profile of 'Kral Kral', a self-proclaimed paedophile hunter from Utrecht. Kral Kral posts videos of offenders and shares online conversations with men who are looking to have sex with children and minors. This is done by creating false profiles to lure them in, which is how the Belgian national was caught.
Kral Kral's post shows a man walking with a shopping bag in a forest until he is suddenly stopped by the person filming. The man filming asks the hiker to empty his bag, which he does, first taking out a blanket, then a tube of Vaseline, and an aerosol of whipped cream. "What is going on?" the man said uncomfortably. "I've been trapped."
The culprit (identified as "MD") met a stream of angry criticism on social media and was revealed to be from Langemark-Poelkapelle in West Flanders. He thought he was about to meet a 12-year-old girl in the woods by the Belgian-Dutch border.
Ten push-ups as punishment
The man tried to explain himself by saying that he is lonely and struggles to engage with women of his age. The "hunter" forced him to do ten push-ups as punishment before telling him to leave.
However, when the video was posted on social media the culprit received a torrent of abuse, leading to his whereabouts being revealed. He was subsequretly taken in for questioning by the police on Tuesday.
Shortly before the questioning, reporters from Belgian news outlet Het Nieuwsblad contacted the man, who described himself as "a lonely man looking for company."
"I was looking for some attention and affection. I'm on several dating sites, but I can't connect with any of the women. And then came that girl's friend request..."
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Though he admitted his error, MD claimed he was framed and said that Kral Kral isn't actually trying to protect children but was looking for money: "They were trying to blackmail me. They asked me €1,500."
It is unclear whether this claim is true. The person who posted the video refused to answer any questions.
Vigilante methods
Eren G. is the self-proclaimed "paedo hunter" who posts photos of alleged perpetrators on his Facebook profile and subjects them to public shaming. Kral Kral – his pseudonym – creates false social media profiles to lure in alleged paedophiles. He shares the chats of men who express sexual interest in minors with his followers, Dutch news outlet Algemeen Dagblad reports.
Eren G. was convicted in December 2021 for coercion, trespassing, libel, and assault. A year earlier, he broke into a house where he forced a resident to admit that he had set up a meeting with a minor to have sex. He posted a video of the incident via a live stream.
He was sentenced to 100 hours of community sentence and a suspended prison sentence of two months.
