In Eindhoven, a bus was driving that was designed to kidnap someone, it seems. As miserable as that is, it’s been “normal” in the underworld for a long time. You can hire criminals for all kinds of jobs. The freelancers of the underworld transport things and people and use violence. As long as it is paid.
Police unit East Brabant received a report on Wednesday evening about a suspicious situation. Officers checked a white bus and saw striking plastic sheeting hanging against the side walls in the back. It had extra locks and a cool box in the back. A strange catch.
It became alarming when 112 was called during the check. Someone said they had been kidnapped. Officers handcuffed the two occupants of the bus. And so the kidnap bus was born.
nippers
It was reminiscent of the torture chamber of Wouwse Plantage that was discovered in the summer of 2020. Professionally converted sea containers with cells full of insulation material. In that case, the suspects also had buses for transporting their enemies. They were looking for ‘double-walled’ buses, was one of the messages they sent via Encrochat.
The shopping list also included a mortar tub for waterboarding, a set of pliers for nails, nippers for fingers and toes and a gas burner. The ‘ebi’ of the underworld was discovered in time.
In the trunk
This bus in Eindhoven is nothing like that at all. The scarce photos and images that exist show that the plastic had been hung somewhat provisionally and then not even everywhere. The ceiling seemed open. The bus didn’t seem soundproof either, because you could see the walls. Unsuitable, you might say. But it still doesn’t seem right.
We rarely see these types of buses in real life. Still, there must be more because there are many stories of kidnappings in the underworld. They are just the tip of the iceberg. As early as the 1990s, people were kidnapped and held hostage. Almost always criminals among themselves, in their own circle. Eyewitnesses then saw someone being pulled into a car or bus or thrown into the trunk. But no one was reported missing.
fake agents
In Breda there was a gang that even dressed up as an arrest team. Before crooks realized they were fake cops, they were handcuffed long and wide to the heating pipe, in an apartment or shed. Ready to be threatened, beaten and extorted. Unless you paid or gave valuable information. Money, in particular, appears to be a motive.
A victim often faced an entire team of sometimes seven kidnappers, as a kidnapping case in Breda in 2016 showed. A well-known kidnapping was that of a real estate agent in the same year, in the Veluwe, which ended in Drunen. The man was taken by a team of five people, wrapped in cellophane and the perpetrators threatened to set him on fire. In 2020, a kidnapping was filmed in the Harpstraat in Eindhoven. In 2021, a man was kidnapped in Breda and threatened with cutting fingers, unless he paid 3000 euros. This ‘finger cutting’ was also discussed in the case involving Martien R. from Oss.
Eyewitnesses
Some cases made the news thanks to eyewitnesses who took images or photos. Going to the police probably do very few criminals. Victims prefer to remain silent. Because a crook does not report the theft of his drugs or weapons.
That’s why it’s hard to say how many underworld kidnappings there are. We never hear from most of them, there are about a few in the news in Brabant every year.
underworld taxi
Vans without windows, such as in Eindhoven, have been in the sights of the police for some time. In quite a few Dutch criminal investigations they function as ‘underworld taxi’. In the back are unseen Colombian and Mexican lab technicians who are transported from sleeping address to lab. It also includes chemicals. Such a van was left behind in the middle of an Eindhoven viaduct last year.
In Eindhoven, the arson in the Offenbachlaan was a reason to check buses and trucks more often. At less than half a percent, there was a crime involved. A very small part uses the vans for crazy things, you would say. That is why the police are so dependent on tips, such as Tuesday in Eindhoven. And victims who want to talk.