Bavarian authorities arrest two teenagers in alleged online abuse network

Bavarian authorities have arrested two teenagers suspected of belonging to an online group that allegedly coerced children into sexual and self-harming acts, BR24 reported. The suspects, both from Hesse, are in pre-trial detention, according to the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism and Swabia police headquarters.

Investigators say the suspects contacted three girls from Bavaria online in the spring: one aged 13 and two aged 14. They allegedly used manipulation and threats, sometimes alongside other group members, to make the girls carry out sexual or self-harming acts, record or photograph themselves and send the material to the perpetrators. The recordings were intended for further distribution.

The central office and Augsburg criminal police are investigating the two on suspicion of forming a criminal organisation, serious sexual abuse without physical contact, possessing child and youth sexual abuse material, and coercion.

The so-called COM network is an extremist, violence-glorifying scene that operates worldwide, authorities said. Its members, or individual perpetrators, use social networks and online games to target children and teenagers and allegedly force them into self-harming, sexual or degrading acts.

Alexander Ecker, head of the central office, said the investigation showed that people involved in the network could not rely on supposed online anonymity to avoid prosecution.

The case recalls the “White Tiger” investigation, which brought the online phenomenon to wider public attention. A trial has been under way at Hamburg Regional Court since January against a German-Iranian man who allegedly used that pseudonym to coerce children aged 11 to 15 into harming themselves. Prosecutors in Hamburg have charged him with murder, alleging, among other things, that he drove a 13-year-old boy in the United States to suicide.