Appearing in court in Brussels, seven young people have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in a case involving the foiled abduction of two minors. The perpetrators had set up a torture chamber to hold their victims captive and planned to demand a ransom from a relative of two teenagers, who had made his fortune through investments in cryptocurrencies.
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Stiff sentences after police uncover Belgian torture chamber for kidnap victims
Colin Clapson
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Exactly one year ago, it emerged that the Belgian and French police had managed to prevent what was called “an act of unprecedented violence”. French investigators from the town of Versailles had tracked down a gang planning to carry out a kidnapping in Belgium. The Brussels Federal Judicial Police were called in and were able to observe the suspects as they drove to a residential area in the town of Braine-l’Alleud in Walloon Brabant, south of Brussels.
When the suspects arrived at their victims’ home, the police intervened. A total of 10 suspects were arrested, including a minor. “The perpetrators were found to be carrying equipment to confine and torture individuals,” the police reported.
Kitted out torture chamber discovered in Belgian House of Horror
The investigation revealed that the gang had planned to kidnap two teenagers linked to a young man who had made his fortune through investments in cryptocurrencies.
A real torture chamber had been set up in a house in Gerpinnes in Hainault Province, where the victims were to be locked up and presumably also tortured. The police found cable ties, saws, pliers and hammers and the entire room, including the furniture, had been wrapped in large plastic sheeting.
During the trial, the public prosecutor revealed that one of the defendants had been involved in a similar kidnapping in France, during which the victim’s finger had been severed.
Two of the defendants were sentenced to 14 years in prison, whilst five others received 12-year sentences.
Alleged mastermind behind bars
The man believed to be the mastermind behind the foiled kidnapping in Braine-l’Alleud, as well as many others in France, is a 24-year-old Franco-Moroccan called Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou. Wanted by Interpol, he was arrested in Tangier in northern Morocco in June 2025. This investigation is still ongoing.
Kidnappings linked to crypto-currency investors are not new in Belgium. In December 2024, for instance, the wife of crypto-influencer Stephane Winkel, who lives in Vorst (Brussels) was dragged into a van by force. The perpetrators demanded bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies worth 11 million euros.