Four arrested for kidnapping

Police say it was possibly a financial dispute in the criminal underworld that prompted a group of men to kidnap a man in Tilburg for three days last week.

“We quickly realized that it a very serious case,” authorities said in a statement today. The three men –two from Alkmaar and one from Zaandam-, were demanding ransom for setting the 51-year-old man from Tilburg free. Police took action, but quietly, “out of concern for the victim.”

On Sunday police were able to bring the abduction to an end, when the kidnappers and the 51-year-old Tilburger were driving in a car on the road leading from Beerta to Nieuw Beerta. Nobody was injured when the SWAT team freed the victim, “He was doing okay under the circumstances,” police say.

The kidnappers aged 29, 32 and 41 were taken into custody on the scene and a fourth man, aged 41 was arrested at a house in Nieuw Beerta. His house was searched for evidence.

Police say the investigation into the possible financial conflict that led to the kidnapping may well lead to more arrests.