Rotterdam man found wounded hours after Amstelveen abduction

On Thursday afternoon a Rotterdam man was dragged out of his car in Amstelveen, pushed into another car and driven off by men in balaclavas. He was found wounded in the province of Zuid-Holland hours later, the police announced in a statement.

The police are hesitant about releasing information. "Everything we release, will be read by the other party too, so we have to be very careful. The investigation is in progress", a spokesperson said to AD. The victim has a criminal record. He received medical treatment for his injuries. 

Around 5:15 p.m. on Thursday the police responded to a parking lot on Van der Hooplaan in Amstelveen. Bystanders called the police and reported seeing a number of men wearing balaclavas violently pulling another man out of his car, pushing him into another car and speeding away. 

Immediately after the incident the police announced that "all scenarios stand open". They even took into consideration that this could be a student prank. A spokesperson told newspaper AD that the initial results of their investigation quickly revealed that this was no joke. The police took the matter "very seriously", the spokesperson said.

In the parking lot the police immediately launched a trace evidence investigation, according to the newspaper. A number of half-smoked cigarettes were taken for possible DNA evidence. Dogs were used to search for traces of the perpetrators in the surrounding are. 

According to the police, a bystander found the wounded Rotterdam man around 9:30 p.m. and called the police. The police would give no detail on where the man was found, other than it was in the province of Zuid-Holland.

What happened to the man during the hours between his abduction and discovery is unclear.