A wealthy 20-year-old medical student accused of persuading a 13-year-old boy to hang himself on Instagram has been seized by police investigating a sick cyber torture sect.
Accused Shahriar J., from Hamburg, Germany, was a member of the banned group 764 and known online to his dozens of vulnerable victims as 'White Tiger'.
Picture shows German-Iranian Shahriar J. (20), undated. He is reportedly accused of 123 crimes. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
His arrest was announced by Hamburg police on 18th June following a two-year investigation sparked by a tip from FBI investigators investigating the US cult, which has ties to the far right.
Police say Shahriar J. manipulated one disturbed teen to hang himself in a car park during a live Instagram chat group in 2022.
He is also said to have attempted to talk a 15-year-old girl in Canada into killing herself.
And while he was still an 18-year-old schoolboy, say police, he manipulated an emotionally frail 14-year-old girl to carve the initials W. T. into her flesh.
Shahriar J. ordered her to send him photos of her cutting the sect number 764 into her skin, plus the word 'sex' and a heart and then send him photos of her self-mutilation.
Investigators say he went to the same school as her and groomed her as they rode the school bus, persuading her to call him 'Babe'.
Police believe she was the only victim he met in real life and fear he had planned to carry out a gruesome beheading ritual he had plotted with another 746 cult member online.
Officers found an arsenal of knives, swords and handguns when they raided Shahriar J.'s home along with mutilated animal corpses, according to local media.
Shahriar J., who comes from a privileged Iranian family who made a fortune from medical technology, is facing charges involving more than 100 offences.
These include 39 cases of grievous bodily harm and 20 cases of serious sexual abuse.
He is also charged with 42 counts of possession of child pornography and more than 13,000 files of extreme pornography and is expected to stand trial later this year.
Shahriar J., being held in custody for trial, is understood to deny any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors believe he had been a member of the 764 sexual torture sect for four years and stalked teenage suicide chat sites, trawling for victims he could manipulate.
At a media conference to announce Shahriar J.'s arrest, Hamburg Police Chief Falk Schnabel said: "This investigation shows us the depths of unfathomable sexual violence.
"The level of brutality is difficult to bear."
And police spokesperson Christian Schreiber added: "It has been a significant, complex investigation in the area of ​​cybercrime."
Some of the evidence unearthed by the investigation has been so disturbing that officers have reportedly been offered psychological counselling.
The torture cult 764 is an extremist online network operating worldwide, targeting children and young people and is banned as a terror group in the USA.
It was founded in 2021 by 15-year-old Texan Bradley Cadenhead, who is currently serving an 80-year jail sentence and who named the group after the zip code of his hometown.
Cult members urged victims to film themselves self-harming, torturing animals and ultimately committing suicide.
(Joseph Golder / newsX)