Six men have been arrested in Holland over the discovery of shipping containers converted into “torture chambers”.
The containers were found in the town of Wouwse Plantage, near Rotterdam, on 22 June following a joint operation by detectives in Holland and France.
Investigators said that criminal gangs had been planning to use the containers to torture victims.
“Six of the containers were intended as cells in which people could be tied up and one container was intended as a torture chamber,” said Andy Kraag, head of the police’s National Investigation Service.
The criminals’ plans were foiled when French detectives cracked messages sent on their EncroChat encrypted phones.
The chambers were not used and the potential victims may now be in hiding, Dutch police added.
Footage recorded by police in Holland showed dentists chairs with straps and handcuffs inside the containers.
Officers also found handcuffs attached to the walls of the and floor of the containers, which were also sound proofed and could be monitored remotely on a video feed.
Investigators also found a building in Rotterdam, which they believe was another base used by the criminals.
Police intercepted millions of messages including that of one of the suspects, a 40-year-old man from The Hague.
Two of the suspects have also been detained for possession of weapons.
The arrests are among 800 made across Europe after EncroChat messages were intercepted and decoded.
Earlier this month, police in the UK arrested scores of criminals after cracking messages sent on the EncroChat services.
Officers seized £54m in cash and tonnes of drugs in what has been described as the UK’s “biggest and most significant” operation ever against organised crime.
