Content warning: This article discusses rape and sexual assault.
Police in the Netherlands have arrested four men who are suspected of drugging and sexually assaulting several women.
The alleged victims are believed to be the suspects’ partners, Dutch police said Thursday.
Police in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam said the men filmed the sexual abuse and shared it online.
“Information indicates that multiple women in the Netherlands may have been drugged by someone in their immediate circle,” police said in a statement.
“Subsequently, sexual acts were performed on the victims while they were being filmed,” police added.
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What do we know about the Dutch investigation?
Police seized computers, mobile phones and USB sticks during raids of suspects’ houses, where they also found sedatives and weapons. The searches took place last week.
Investigators are sorting through the evidence to ascertain how many victims were abused, the police statement said.
“What is clear is that this is a case with an enormous impact,” said Milou van der Kolk from the Sexual Crimes Team of Rotterdam police.
“The news that your partner or an acquaintance may have drugged you and perhaps even raped you or attempted to do so can turn your life completely upside down,” van der Kolk said.
The alleged perpetrators were members of private social media groups where they discussed ways to sedate potential victims of sexual assaults.
Four other men are suspected of being involved. Police have not ruled out further arrests.
Police said the suspects range from 21 to 51 years old and come from various parts of the Netherlands.
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‘A new phenomenon’
The case was uncovered thanks to tip-offs from police in neighboring Germany and the United Kingdom, who discovered the private social media groups.
“Information was being exchanged in them about how best to drug women — or rather, one’s own partner — and then have sex with her,” Gerben Cabboort of the Special Sexual Violence Unit at Rotterdam police, told Dutch public radio NOS, describing it as a “new phenomenon.”
This year, a Chinese student in Germany was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after being found guilty of drugging and raping his neighbor at least seven times between February and December 2024.
The man was also a member of a social media group where they shared photographs and recordings of their crimes and tips on how to sedate women before sexually assaulting them.
The victims in that case were the men’s partners, colleagues, friends or acquaintances.
The cases bear stark similarities to that of Gisele Pelicot, the French woman who was repeatedly sedated and raped by her then-husband for years. He also invited dozens of other men to do the same.
Dominique Pelicot was sentenced in 2024 to 20 years in prison, while 50 other men have also been jailed.
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Edited by: Zac Crellin
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