Dutch woman abducted in Liege; Held hostage for €100,000 ransom
A Dutch woman was abducted and held hostage for some time in Liège, Belgium, last week. The abductors demanded €100,000 in ransom from her family in the Netherlands. She was freed in a large-scale police action. The police arrested six suspects, five of whom are still in custody, NU.nl reported.
A family member reported the woman missing to the police on Wednesday evening. The woman’s family received a video claiming responsibility and demanding the ransom. The Liège police rescued her the next day.
Once realizing that this was a criminal abduction, the authorities quickly scaled up the operation, also involving the Dutch police. Investigators located the woman’s vehicle and identified several suspects. They traced the woman’s location to a home in Saint-Nicolas.
At around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, the police rescued her. She was “in shock and injured,” a police spokesperson reported to NU.nl, but did not elaborate further on her condition.
The police arrested six suspects. The investigating judge remanded five of them into pre-trial detention. According to the authorities, most of the suspects are known members of the drug world.
The police raided several homes and seized €127,000 in cash, a Rolex watch, and approximately 200 grams of what the authorities believe is amphetamines.
