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Manhunt underway over alleged ‘heinous and brutal’ rape of schoolgirls

Police have not yet been able to find an 18-year-old man suspected of involvement in the rape of several schoolgirls in the Ruhr region.

Published: 15 February 2018 14:48 CET

Manhunt underway over alleged 'heinous and brutal' rape of schoolgirls

Photo: DPA

While there are several clues as to the suspect’s whereabouts, a police spokesperson in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Thursday, a “decisive lead” is still lacking.

Over the past few months, six young males between the ages of 16 and 23 are suspected to have been involved in at least six cases of alleged rape involving several adolescent girls, according to investigators.

But after the arrest of four of the men, and with investigations underway regarding the underage 16-year-old suspect, the public prosecutor’s office and police on Wednesday reported that the last remaining suspect – an 18-year-old male from Gelsenkirchen – had disappeared.

The suspects allegedly made initial contact with the young girls via social media and acquaintances. Then they lured them into remote areas and pressured them into performing sexual acts on them, according to a police report.

“These are particularly heinous and brutal acts,” said police spokesman in Essen, Lars Lindemann.

The acts took place in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, reported Focus Online, adding that the perpetrators afterward ridiculed their victims and bragged about their deeds online.

Investigators believe the young men are responsible for further sexual offences.

Only three victims – all 16-year-old girls – have filed complaints with investigators thus far. But police believe that there are more victims and have urged others to come forward.

The 18-year-old suspect. Photo: Polizei Essen

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

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