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.
Dutch police said Thursday that the alleged victims were believed to be partners of the suspects.
Police in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam said the men filmed the sexual assault and shared it online.
“Information indicates that several women in the Netherlands may have been drugged by someone close to them,” police said in a statement.
“Subsequently, sexual acts were performed on the victims while they were being filmed,” police said.
What do we know about the Dutch investigation?
Police seized computers, mobile phones and USB sticks during raids on the suspects’ homes, where they also found sedatives and weapons. This search took place last week.
The police statement said investigators were examining evidence to determine how many victims were abused.
“It is clear that this is a case with a very high impact,” said Milou van der Kolk, of Rotterdam police’s sexual crimes team.
“The news that your partner or someone you know may have drugged you and perhaps even raped you or attempted to do so can completely turn your life upside down,” Van der Kolk said.
The alleged perpetrators were members of private social media groups where they discussed ways to seduce potential victims of sexual assault.
Four other people are suspected to be involved. Police have not ruled out further arrests.
Police said the suspects ranged in age from 21 to 51 and came from different parts of the Netherlands.
‘A new phenomenon’
The case was revealed thanks to a tip from police in neighboring Germany and the United Kingdom, who searched private social media groups.
“They were exchanging information about how to drug women – or rather, their own partners – and then have sex with them,” Gerben Cabort, of the special sexual violence unit at the Rotterdam police, told Dutch public radio NOS, calling it 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 he shared photographs and recordings of his crimes and tips on how to render women unconscious before sexually assaulting them.
In that case the victims were the man’s partners, colleagues, friends or acquaintances.
These cases bear striking resemblance to the case of French woman Gisele Pellicot, who was repeatedly seduced and raped for years by her then-husband. He invited dozens of other men to do the same.
Dominic Pellicote was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2024, while 50 other people were also jailed.
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Edited by: Zack Crellin