TORTURE HELL
Horrifying secret torture chamber with dentist’s chair and scalpels found in biggest-ever bust of Brit ‘Mr Bigs’
- 8 Jul 2020, 11:24
- Updated: 8 Jul 2020, 11:24
- Invalid Date,
DUTCH police have discovered a sickening torture chamber complete with a dentist’s chair and handcuffs linked to a bust of crimelords which included British “Mr Bigs”.
One container was soundproofed, fitted with a dentist’s chair and cops found pliers and scalpels.
Police footage showed armed officers raiding the premises, situated near the southern Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, south of Rotterdam.
They found a torture cell which was kitted out with a dentist’s chair along with gruesome equipment including pruning shears, a saw, scalpels and pliers aimed to maximise the agony.
The containers were soundproof and fiited inside with foil in what police believe was a bid to make them invisible to thermal imaging cameras.
All had handcuffs or manacles installed to the floor and the ceiling.
The grisly discovery was made last month by cops investigating leads generated from encrypted phones used by criminals that were cracked by French police in what was described as like breaking the Enigma code.
They seized £54million cash, 77 firearms and two tonnes of drugs after police cracked the network.
Andy Kraag, head of Dutch police’s central investigations division said: “Six served as prison cells in which people could have been tied up and one other container had the sole purpose of being a torture chamber.”
Detectives in the UK and the Netherlands have already made hundreds of arrests based on the encrypted messages.
As reported, ‘iconic’ Mr Bigs was among 746 crime lords last week snared as part of the investigation.
The Wire-style sting — a two-month operation involving cops from almost every force in Britain — has now stopped 200 potential murders and kidnappings.
Messages exchanged by members of the gang and intercepted by police described the warehouse in Holland as the “treatment room” and appeared to discuss holding interrogations.
One referred to a “dog”, presumably a detainee, who had gone missing.
Another said: “When I get him on the chair there will be more.”
HOW THEY DID IT
Encrochat is a military-grade encrypted communication system used by 60,000 people worldwide including 10,000 in the UK that was purported to provide secure phones for celebrities.
But instead, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said the Dutch system’s “sole use” was for criminals to trade guns and guns, plot murders and kidnappings and launder money.
And the kingpins led lavish lifestyles and lived in multi-million pound properties with access to top of the range vehicles, the Met said.
Police said they “appeared to be successful, respectable business people but were dangerous individuals”.
And after four years of work by international crime investigators, police managed to crack into the system – exposing the intricate web of crime like the TV hit The Wire.
NCA director of investigations Nikki Holland said the breach – described by one official as like breaking the Enigma code – was like “having an inside person in every top organised crime group in the country”.
CLOSING IN: Messages sent
Recent messages intercepted from some of the UK handsets include:
“This year the police are winning.”
“NCA as u know well are sophisticated and relentless.”
“If NCA then we have a big problem.”
“The police are having a field day.”
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Dutch police chief Jannine van den Berg said the discovery of the cells came after French and Dutch police hacked the EncroChat network, which was announced last week along with the arrest of around 800 people across Europe.
She said: “We already announced then that there was more to come. The discovery of this underworld prison is an example of this.”
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