Inside horrifying underworld torture chamber criminals used until bombshell discovery was made

Warning: This article contains discussion of torture which some readers may find distressing

Police made a horrifying discovery after uncovering a hidden criminal plot, an underworld torture chamber and prison with disturbing tools found inside.

This took place as part of a worldwide investigation in which police were able to hack into an encrypted messaging service used by criminals.

Called ‘EncroChat’, the service involved criminals using modified phones that prevented police from being able to access conversations.

The service was used for communication between criminals across the globe, with EncroChat used for various crimes ranging from gun smuggling to even organised assassinations.

The international investigation that unencrypted these chats is the focus of a new Channel 4 docuseries, Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text.

The documentary features interviews with police who made the discovery (Channel 4)

The documentary series reveals how the National Crime Agency uncovered and stopped various criminal plots across the UK after EncroChat was hacked by French authorities.

Its second episode, however, will focus in part on a Dutch operation in which they discovered an underworld torture chamber and prison.

See below for an exclusive first look clip at the investigators who helped find it:

The torture chamber was discovered in July of 2020 as part of a Dutch operation codenamed 26Lemont.

Investigators pored through millions of messages that illuminated the shocking reality of the scale of the Dutch underworld.

This led to over 100 arrests, seizure of over 8,000kg of cocaine, 1,200kg of meth, and in this case, the capture of 11 men in connection with the torture chamber.

There were seven shipping containers found, with six used as prisons and the seventh used for torture.

The converted shipping containers were found in a warehouse in Wouwse Plantage, a village close to the Netherland’s border with Belgium.

Of the 11 men, the sentences ranged from one to nine years for maintaining the ‘prison’.

Criminals called it the 'operating room' (Channel 4)

The torture chamber was found with a dentist’s chair along with a number of tools that could be used in the abuse of people. This includes a saw, scalpels, pliers, and pruning shears.

Messages about the chamber sent via EncroChat included ones saying ‘we must have enough belts and tie-wraps to tie them’, and ‘we need cutting pliers for fingers and toes’ per The Guardian.

Those running it were involved in the drugs trade, leading prosecutors to point to the torture chamber as a reminder for those who recreationally take drugs such as cocaine that this is the hidden dark side to their habit.

An underworld mobster known as Piet Costa, 50, allegedly set up the prison complex to capture and torture his rivals and their relatives.

Having been previously jailed for 15 years for cocaine trafficking his involvement in the torture led to a 33 month sentence being added on.

Operation Dark Phone: Murder By Text episode 2 will air on Channel 4 tonight, July 28, at 9pm.