Kidnappers handcuffed, ball-gagged Amsterdam 15-year-old: report

The perpetrators who kidnapped a 15-year-old boy in Amsterdam’s De Pijp in January handcuffed the teenager, pushed a ball gag into his mouth, and pulled a bag over his head, sources close to the investigation told AT5.

The boy grabbed his bicycle on Tweede Jan Steenstraat on the morning of January 10 and found his way blocked by a ladder. The person moving the ladder asked the teen to help him get it into the back of a van. When the boy did so, the perpetrators forcibly dragged him into the van and drove off.

While the van fled from Amsterdam, the abductors did everything to keep the boy quiet. They handcuffed him, forced a ball gag into his mouth, pulled a bag over his head, and took his phone and keys. At one point, the boy’s mother called, and the abductors forced him to answer and pretend that he was okay, according to the Amsterdam broadcaster’s sources.

The kidnappers were taking the boy to a holiday home in Langbroek, Utrecht. But the police forced the van off the road on the A27 near Groenekan before they reached their destination. The police rescued the boy and arrested three suspects. Four more arrests followed on March 8.

According to AT5, the abduction seems to be linked to a house robbery on Minervaplein in Amsterdam-Zuid. The teenage boy was allegedly there when a large amount of cash was stolen.

The kidnappers wanted to claim 200,000 euros in ransom for the boy, AT5’s sources said. They also wanted information about the robbery.