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Photo: T. Seeliger / snapshot photography / IMAGO
The State Criminal Police Office has been searching several apartments in Berlin since early Tuesday morning on suspicion of child and youth pornography.
Around 40 emergency services are on the road, the police said on Twitter.
All police departments in the city are involved, it said.
It is about the initial suspicion of "possession, acquisition of possession and distribution of child pornography and youth pornography".
The investigations focused exclusively on the capital.
The police said there were no searches in other cities or locations.
The investigations were directed against 20 suspects, said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office.
Private homes would be searched.
According to initial findings, these are individual cases and not a network.
According to prosecutors, the information about the suspects was obtained via WhatsApp groups or came from the US non-governmental organization NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).
According to the police, American Internet providers are obliged to report suspicious cases to this point.
NCMEC then forwards the information to investigative authorities.
According to the police, the number of cases of possession, production and distribution of abusive content has increased significantly due to this obligation.
wit/dpa
