Germany uncovers massive online child abuse network involving at least 30 000 suspects

German cyber crime authorities have uncovered a massive online network of at least 30,000 people who share child pornography and exchange advice on how to sedate and abuse minors. File picture: Pexels

German cyber crime authorities have uncovered a massive online network of at least 30,000 people who share child pornography and exchange advice on how to sedate and abuse minors. File picture: Pexels

Published Jun 29, 2020

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Berlin - German cyber crime authorities

have uncovered a massive online network of at least 30,000

people who share child pornography and exchange advice on how to

sedate and abuse minors, law enforcement authorities said on

Monday.

Peter Biesenbach, justice minister in the western state of

North Rhine-Westphalia, said investigators were stunned by the

scale of the network and that a special task-force has been set

up to find the suspects and bring them to justice.

"People log on to a chat, not on the dark web, but on

messenger services on the normal web," said Biesenbach. "They

get instructions from other users on what sedatives one should

give children in order to abuse them.

"A discussion ensues on which children can be abused," he

added.

Some users admit that they had long wanted to be part of

such networks but had never dared to do so. They get

encouragement from more experience users.

Biesenbach said the task-force would have to act quickly

before the chats were deleted, which would make it almost

impossible to identify the suspects.

"I felt sick when I heard it but it has also made us more

determined to pursue this inquiry," he said. "I fear it is going

to be more than 30,000 suspects." 

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