This large-scale study recalls the experiences of the Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot.
The suspects, whose identities have not been released under Dutch privacy rules, were arrested after police, acting on information shared by German and United Kingdom (UK) authorities, searched several homes across the country over two days last week, police said in a statement on Thursday.
“Information indicates that several women in the Netherlands may have been drugged by people close to them. Later, sexual acts were performed on the victims and they were filmed at the time,” the police said.
It added that the men are suspected of using social media chat groups to post images of sexual assault and information on how to best drug people.
It is not yet clear how many people were abused. Police are trying to identify the victims from images on phones and computers seized during searches last week.
“However, what is clear is that this is a case with huge implications,” Milou van der Kolk of the Rotterdam Sex Crimes Investigation Team said in a police statement.
“As a victim, you may not know what happened to you because you may have been drugged and unconscious. The news that your partner or an acquaintance may have drugged you and possibly even raped you or attempted to rape you can completely turn your life upside down,” the officer said.
The police did not rule out the possibility that more persons will be detained during the investigation.
In December 2024, Ms. Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot (Dominikas Peliko) and 50 other men were convicted of sexually abusing her between 2011 and 2020, while she was drugged. Mr. Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other defendants received prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
Mr Pelicot, to whom Mrs Pelicot had been married for almost 50 years, admitted that for many years he laced his wife’s food and drinks with sedatives so he could rape her and invite other men to do the same.
