Düsseldorf/Münster (dpa/lnw) - In the case of alleged right-wing extremist chats with police officers from the special task force (SEK) Münster, the public prosecutor's office has now expanded their investigations into suspected child pornography. Instead of the previous 8, 16 male police officers are now being investigated. This emerges from a report to the interior committee of the state parliament, which was published on Wednesday.
According to dpa information, the images should be a total of five files that were obviously not created by the officials themselves. Instead, it should be about pictures and videos that are already circulating on the Internet. There is no acute danger to children or young people. The new suspects in the preliminary proceedings are currently only accused of possessing the image and video files - but not of distribution.
According to the report to the state parliament, the eight additional accused police officers work in Münster, Dortmund, Steinfurt and at the State Office for Training, Further Education and Personnel Affairs (LAFP). They are all recipients of the files. According to the report, the four pictures in the chat group were sent between November 2017 and May 2018 from among the already accused SEK people.
The group of the first eight suspects, seven of whom still belonged to the SEK Münster, was found in another case in the summer. A SEK official had allegedly exchanged right-wing extremist and violent content privately via a messenger service with a Bundeswehr soldier. Ultimately, this had no consequences because the statements were not public.
As far as the alleged child pornographic images are concerned, there was only a tightening of criminal law last year. Accordingly, it is now a crime if you have such a picture because you received it in a group chat, for example. The affected images were sent or received before the law was tightened.
