German police bust alleged child sex ring operating from summer house

Eleven people have been arrested in three German states over the alleged abuse of 5, 10, and 12 year-olds. Their victims were drugged, then seriously abused for hours at a summer house.

Police in Germany have arrested 11 people in connection with a nationwide child sex abuse ring, the public prosecutor's office and police in the western city of Münster said in a statement released on Saturday.

Seven of the suspects have been remanded in custody, including a 27-year-old man – an IT technician, and his 45-year-old mother.

The arrests were carried out in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, and Lower Saxony, after police uncovered encrypted data from hard drives found hidden in a false ceiling in a basement in Münster, belonging to the young man.

Investigators said more than 500 terabytes of data were seized from what had been converted into an air-conditioned server room.