During the first half of 2021, reports of child pornography in Germany almost reached the country’s caseload from last year – as federal police authorities warn that its forces are being stretched to their “limits.”
The head of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that there were as many cases with child sexual abuse imagery reported between January to July this year as recorded across all of 2020.
“The number of reports that we receive about such crimes is up, and the number of investigations is increasing,” BKA President Holger Münch told the paper, adding that the “significant increase…will increasingly bring the police to their resource limits.”
Although Münch did not specify the exact figures for 2021, local media revealed that the BKA had registered some 18,761 cases last year. This was a 53% increase over 2019.
The BKA will likely be required, he also stated. “provide more intensive support” to police across Germany’s 16 states in order to combat the growing incidence of child sexual abuse images.
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Münch’s comments came as reports emerged about a Catholic priest from the northwestern city of Osnabrück being investigated over alleged child sex abuse images crimes. Local media were informed by a spokesperson for the diocese that the priest was relieved from his duties immediately.
German police closed down their investigation into what they called “a criminal conspiracy” after a Europol-led inquiry that was months long. “one of the world’s biggest child pornography darknet platforms”The site’s administrators were among the three people arrested. The site, called ‘Boystown’, had been active since June 2019 and apparently had some 400,000 users at the time it was taken offline.
Bavarian police then identified 1,600 possible child sex abuse victims from France, the USA, Austria and Switzerland who were involved in chat groups where child pornography was exchanged. Many of these suspects are minors, according to reports.
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German cops identify over 1,600 suspects in sting op on online chat groups where child porn & zoophilia materials were distributed
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