In the fight against sexual violence against children, the Hessian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) searched a total of 85 apartments last week and identified 87 suspects. “Eight of them are accused of sexual abuse of children and young people,” the LKA announced on Monday. “The other 79 are accused of purchasing, possessing or distributing child or youth pornography.”
315 investigators were involved in the raids by the special organizational organization (BAO) “Fokus” throughout the state. The suspects include 75 men and twelve women. “23 of the accused are not yet 21 years old,” it continued. The alleged perpetrators are said to have not been in contact with each other.
The BAO officials are now faced with the task of evaluating almost 750 seized storage media such as laptops, smartphones or USB sticks and thus collecting evidence for possible legal proceedings. The investigators also hope for new investigative approaches.
The aim of the special unit of the Hessian LKA, which was founded around three years ago, is to protect minors from sexual violence and to investigate sexual crimes directed against children and young people. In total, BAO “Fokus” has more than 300 employees.
According to information, last week’s raids took place in the cities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt am Main, Hanau, Kassel, Offenbach am Main and Wiesbaden, as well as in the districts of Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Bergstrasse, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Fulda, Gießen and Groß -Gerau, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Kassel, Limburg-Weilburg, Offenbach, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Main-Kinzig district, Rheingau-Taunus district, Vogelsberg district, Werra-Meißner district and Wetterau district.
Sources: Hesse State Criminal Police Office, AFP news agency
