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Goch: Large-scale police operation at dawn
Photo: Guido Schulmann / dpa
A 25-year-old is said to have been detained against her will in a suspected sect in Goch in North Rhine-Westphalia.
A 58-year-old Dutchman who calls himself a "prophet" has been arrested, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office for the German press agency.
The police and public prosecutor had previously reported a large-scale search on the site of a former monastery on the Lower Rhine.
There the investigators apparently came across a sect.
They secured data media and two alarm pistols.
The police arrived early in the morning.
Previously there had been indications that a person was being held against their will on the premises of an event company, it said.
"According to the investigations, a religious community is said to have established itself on the area, one could also say: a sect," said the spokesman.
There is talk of an "Order of Transformation".
Hundreds in action
The investigators met a total of 54 people during the several-hour action "with the support of a hundred".
According to the information, there were also ten children.
In one of the residential buildings, the officials came across the 25-year-old, who is said to have been the victim of the deprivation of liberty.
There were no injuries and it was not a hostage situation, said a police spokeswoman.
The exact relationships are unclear.
The woman was brought to safety and is currently being questioned by the police.
It is also unclear whether other people were involuntarily detained on the site.
The suspicion is directed against those responsible for the event company, it said in a message.
They are people who are "in connection with a religious community" and at the same time pursue a business activity on the property.
There are several event rooms, living and utility rooms or a café, reported the police spokeswoman.
"Whether it is actually a sect and whether it is allowed to continue to reside there is not a matter for the public prosecutor," said the spokesman.
It was unclear whether all the people found there belonged to this community.
The interviews and investigations were difficult, it said.
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