VIENNA

Police in Germany launched on Monday investigations into 250 suspects accused of sharing images involving the sexual abuse of minors.

Bavarian police said in a statement that the probe began after a mobile phone seized in early 2022 was examined. Authorities discovered a file containing child sexual abuse material involving more than 1,500 minors.

Investigators found that the illegal content was circulated across multiple messaging groups with a large number of participants.

So far, more than 300 individuals have been identified in connection with the case, with formal investigations opened against 250 of them.

Police said they reviewed over 230,000 messages and more than 80,000 file attachments, determining that over 1,000 messages contained content indicating criminal activity.