Federal prosecutor's office is investigating alleged ringleader of the "COM scene"

He is said to have used chats to persuade an underage boy in Russia to kill a child with a knife at a school. And young people in the USA and Sweden to set vehicles on fire. And that's not all: The Federal Prosecutor's Office is now investigating a young man who is said to have been a member of a terrorist and criminal organization as a teenager and adolescent. As a suspected ringleader, he persuaded people to commit crimes.

The man was arrested on March 17 and is in custody, as the Karlsruhe authorities announced. She took over the procedure from the Koblenz Public Prosecutor's Office. The man should therefore be brought before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. Südwestrundfunk first reported on it.

The list of allegations is long: The accused is said to have founded an association characterized by a right-wing extremist ideology by the end of March 2024 at the latest. Particularly serious crimes such as murder or manslaughter should be committed or encouraged in order to bring about the collapse of social order. “Image and video material of such acts are deliberately shared in chat groups in order to promote the association and future attacks.”

According to the information, it also involves incitement to murder and multiple arson, rape and sexual abuse of a child, gang-like distribution of child pornographic content, public incitement to commit crimes, endorsement of crimes and depictions of violence.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office specifically cites examples from Russia, the USA and Switzerland. The suspect is also said to have called for the killing of a US citizen in a chat group. “Ultimately, there is a suspicion that the accused contacted a child in another European country via the Internet and caused him to perform sexual acts on himself with a knife,” the statement says. The victim suffered serious injuries. The accused distributed video compilations of some of the crimes on the Internet.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office attributes the two groups to the so-called COM scene, or at least sees a connection to it. The scene developed on the Internet a few years ago, the authority explains in its statement. “Its members are specifically searching on social media or gaming platforms for very young, mostly female people who are to be pressured into degrading acts and/or self-harm or even suicide through manipulation and coercion.”

The current case is reminiscent of a case that is currently being heard before the Hamburg Regional Court. According to the indictment, the suspected pedo criminal accused there, who became known under his forum name “White Tiger”, is said to have committed more than 200 crimes over the Internet. According to the public prosecutor's office, he was the head of the international sadist network "764". He is said to have specifically searched for mentally unstable children and young people in internet forums in order to gain their trust and then abuse them.