The gang, aged between 13 and 18, filmed the abuse and blackmailed their distraught 12-year-old victim with threats to upload the footage to social media to keep her silent.
Seventeen young people between the ages of 13 and 18 were arrested in Austria on Thursday accused of conducting a harrowing long-term ordeal of sexual abuse against a 12-year-old girl.
Police in Vienna seized the suspected male rape gang after the victim filed a complaint claiming to have been forced by her boyfriend to have sex with his friends before being passed around “like a trophy” for over a year.
Authorities from the Vienna State Criminal Police Office conducted a mass operation on Thursday morning, arresting multiple suspects and storming dozens of apartments. Four cell phones were also seized in connection with the allegations.
According to Kronen-Zeitung, the victim’s boyfriend is accused of coercing the girl into having underage sex with him and forcing her to engage in non-consensual sexual intercourse with a number of his friends.
The gang allegedly took multiple videos of the attacks which took place over a sustained period in various locations, including a parking garage, an apartment, and a communal stairwell.