At least eleven suspects arrested in Germany on suspicion of sexually abusing children
German prosecutors released details on Saturday about arrests made on the basis of serious child sex abuse allegations following raids across the country. Prosecutors in the western city of Muenster said 11 suspects had been arrested in Friday's raids, seven of whom remain in pre-trial custody.
- World
- AFP
- Published Date: 08:09 | 06 June 2020
- Modified Date: 08:13 | 06 June 2020
At least eleven suspects have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of sexually abusing children and filming their actions, police said on Saturday.
Hard disks containing up to 500 terabytes of data, including videos and photos, were seized from the cellar of a 27-year-old man from the western city of Muenster.
Investigators identified at least three potential victims aged five, 10 and 12 years old.
Some of the suspects -- who hail from regions across Germany -- are related to the children.
Muenster police said in a press conference that the recovered footage showed shocking abuse over "several hours" of the two younger boys by four men.
"You can't imagine it," said lead investigator Joachim Poll.
"These men, if you can call them that, acted maliciously by encrypting all their discussions on their cell phones."
Police said the abuse took place at a summer house in Muenster belonging to the mother of the 27-year-old suspect.
Germany is still in shock over an earlier scandal in Luegde, 125 kilometres (80 miles) from Muenster, where several men abused children several hundred times at a campsite over a period of several years.