Jonas Roosens

4 detained after 27-year-old woman is taken hostage in Antwerp

The Examining Magistrate in Antwerp has put under arrest four men after a 27-year-old woman was taken hostage. The Judicial Authorities report that the four men detained had demand ransom money for the woman’s release from her boyfriend, who has gambling debts. 

On Thursday morning a confused man went to a police station in Antwerp to report that his girlfriend had been taken hostage. On the previous evening a group of men had taken him in a minibus to a building. There he was bound at beaten up. The man is a 22-year-old accountant that has gambling debts.

The three suspects also kidnapped the man’s girlfriend, a 27-year-old woman from the Antwerp district of Borgerhout. The man was freed so that he could go about collect the job of collecting funds to pay off his gambling debt and ensure his girlfriend’s release.

On Thursday a joint operation between the Antwerp Local Police Service, the Antwerp and East Flemish Federal Judicial Police Services and Federal Police Special Units led to the woman being freed. Four men were detained. They are a 25 year-old man from Ekeren (Antwerp) 27-year-old man and his 25-year-old brother from Antwerp and a 27-year-old man from Hoboken (Antwerp) The Examining Magistrate has placed them under arrest. They will appear before magistrates on Tuesday. 

Top stories