Essen/Mülheim an der Ruhr (dpa/lnw) - during a large-scale campaign against child pornography, police officers searched 34 apartments in Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr and secured data carriers. It is about the suspicion of distribution and possession of child pornography and the suspicion of sexual abuse, the police said on Thursday. It is therefore about individual facts, not about a coherent "ring".
When asked, a police spokeswoman initially did not say how many suspects there were. Some of them were subjected to identification procedures - they were photographed, for example. However, none of the suspects are in custody, the spokeswoman said. 19 mobile phones, 10 computers, 19 USB sticks and 4 external hard drives were seized and these are to be evaluated in the coming weeks.
According to the police spokeswoman, the accused could also include young people who watched such videos but had no inclination to do so. The searches on Tuesday and Wednesday were carried out by the special organizational structure (BAO) "Herkules", which was founded last November and specializes in child pornography and sexual violence.
