The case of a group living on a farm in the Dutch province of Drenthe for years isolated raises new questions. The police said that the people living in a closed room near the village of Ruinerwold had testified that they were a family. According to police, a special group of 25 officials are investigating the case.
In total, five grown-up children and, contrary to earlier information, their father since 2010 are said to have lived in the room. The family was not known to the registration office according to the police.
One of the young people, a 25-year-old man, had called in a village pub on Monday and asked for help. As a result, the police had driven to the courtyard and discovered the six people in a small, lockable room. It is still unclear whether people were there voluntarily or were detained against their will.
In the course of the investigation, a 58-year-old Austrian from Vienna had been arrested. He was a tenant of the farm, according to police, and is said to have carried out regular repairs there, but did not live in the yard.
A report by the Dutch regional broadcaster "rtv" states that the 25-year-old was said to have worked in a company owned by the Austrian. He also had been active in social media for some time. The information was not confirmed by the police.
The statement that people lived in a basement corrected the police in the morning. The family lived in a "lockable little room in the apartment", "it was not a cellar".
In which exact relationship the Austrians stood to the family, is therefore still unclear. Dutch media had reported that the group in the room had been waiting for the "end of the times".
