Dutch police uncover 'torture chamber' and makeshift prisons in 7 shipping containers.
Police conducted the raid before it was used, and alerted potential victims who have gone into hiding. 6 people arrested. Part of a major investigation based on leads from EncroChat phones.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/dutch-police-uncover-torture-chamber-makeshift-prison-6-arrested
Six men were arrested after Dutch police discovered sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed torture chamber complete with a dentist’s chair, handcuffs, and tools including pliers, scalpels, and hedgetrimmers a high-ranking officer announced Tuesday.
The grisly discovery was made last month by officers investigating leads generated by data from encrypted phones used by criminals. The communications network was cracked recently by French police. Detectives in Britain and the Netherlands have already arrested hundreds of suspects based on the encrypted messages.
Dutch police said last week that their investigations, code-named 26Lemont, based on millions of messages from the EncroChat phones, had led to the arrest of more than 100 suspects and seizure of more than 17,600 pounds of cocaine and 2,600 pounds of crystal meth as well as the dismantling of 19 synthetic drugs labs and seizure of dozens of firearms. On June 22, Dutch national police force officers arrested six men on suspicion of crimes, including preparing kidnappings and serious assault. Detectives also discovered the seven converted sea containers in a warehouse in Wouwse Plantage, a small village in the southwestern Netherlands, close to the border with Belgium, according to a statement released Tuesday.
In searches of other properties, including what police described as a base for the criminals near the port city of Rotterdam, officers found police uniforms and body armor, stolen vehicles, 25 firearms and drugs. “This is a great result of the 26Lemont investigation,” the head of the National Investigation Service said. “And, take it from me, many more results will follow.”