Investigators from the Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA) searched the apartments and offices of 23 colleagues in the Leipzig area on Wednesday, the Dresden Public Prosecutor announced.
The officers are suspected of having subjected two new members of the Mobile Task Force (MEK) to a forbidden ritual in their offices at the end of 2020.
Stephen Locke
Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.
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A colleague is said to have been injured by shots with colored ammunition and suffered bruises.
That is why, among other things, the suspicion of physical harm is being investigated in the office.
The ammunition had previously been stolen from official stocks without authorization.
In total, the public prosecutor's office is investigating 25 MEK suspects aged 29 to 54 and a police doctor.
The president of the LKA, Sonja Penzel, suspended the group leader and the commando leader of the unit, who are said to have not only approved the ritual, but instructed it.
The case came to light during internal investigations into the so-called ammunition affair, in which members of another MEK had stolen around 15,000 rounds of ammunition from service stocks for private shooting training.
The responsible MEK was then completely dissolved and the then head of the LKA was transferred.
"Tests of courage or admission rituals do not belong in the police force," said Penzel.
The officials would not only have exceeded the limits of civilized cooperation, but also misused training equipment.
Saxony's Interior Minister Roland Wöller was shocked.
The misconduct was "inexcusable and has no place in the Saxon police force," said the CDU politician.
The misconduct of individuals should not bring the successful work of entire authorities into disrepute.