‘Underworld’ prison with torture chambers discovered in Dutch town
Dutch police said they discovered a twisted, underworld prison with soundproof torture chambers to stifle prisoners’ screams.
The operation uncovered seven shipping containers converted into prison cells and torture chambers during a warehouse raid in Wouwse Plantage, a village close to the southern border with Belgium, on June 22.
Video released by the police showed heavily armed officers blasting open a door at the warehouse, then opening the containers one by one.
“Six of the containers were intended as cells in which people could be tied up and one container was intended as a torture chamber,” said Andy Kraag, head of the police’s National Investigation Service.
Inside the containers were possible torture devices including hedge cutters, scalpels and pliers, authorities said.
There were also handcuffs attached to the ceilings and floors of the cells, which could be monitored remotely on a video feed.
Police said they had been tipped off to the secret chambers by messages on the encrypted app EncroChat that contained photos of a dentist’s chair with belts attached to the arm and foot supports.
The messages referred to the warehouse as “treatment room” and the “ebi,” a top-security Dutch prison, authorities said.
Police arrested six men on suspicion of kidnapping and hostage-taking in connection to the underground prison. They were ordered held for 90 days as investigations continue.
Authorities also confiscated 52 pounds of the drug MDMA, police clothing, stolen vehicles and weapons.
With Post wires