Belgian police question 23 in Dutroux child sex and murder inquiry

Belgian police questioned 23 suspects in the Dutroux child sex and murder inquiry, including 11 policemen. More than three weeks after the discovery of the bodies of two eight-year-old girls, the first victims to be found, investigators broadened inquiries yesterday to examine widespread complicity within the Belgian police force. The offices of the judicial police in the southern town of Charleroi were searched. Among those held for questioning were eight members of the judicial police and three members of the gendarmerie.

The questioning of police officers will add to mounting suspicion that Mark Dutroux and his accomplices may have been aided and abetted by the authorities themselves.