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Friso Gentsch / DPA
The police in Cologne are investigating 70 suspects who are said to have owned and exchanged numerous photos and videos of sexually abused babies and small children.
The starting point is a procedure in Berlin, said a police spokesman for the dpa news agency.
During the investigations in the capital, a man from Wermelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia was discovered who kept lists of suspected pedophiles.
He is in custody.
Across Germany, suspects are being investigated in 14 federal states.
The "Bild" newspaper reported about it first.
The public prosecutor's office and the Cologne police want to give further details, figures and background information on the investigation on Monday.
In North Rhine-Westphalia there have been several crime complexes involving serious sexual abuse of children in recent years.
The investigations into the Bergisch Gladbach and Münster complexes followed the abuse of the Lügde campsite in the Lippe district.
In the Bergisch Gladbach case, investigators freed 65 children from the violence of sex offenders.
Starting with a father in Bergisch Gladbach, the police had uncovered a widespread network of serious child abuse.
In the Münster abuse complex, children had been raped in a gazebo and in other places.
So far, the police have identified more than 30 victims and located more than 50 suspects, some of whom have already been convicted.
kha/dpa
