Police and soldiers in Brussels allegedly engaged in a 10-person orgy while the Belgian capital was under lockdown following the November 13 terrorist attack in Paris. According to the BBC, the orgy involved eight soldiers and two policewomen.
While their colleagues hunted for terrorists in Brussels, police claim, the orgy went on at a police station where soldiers and police had been staying during the lockdown. Police spokesman Johan Berckmans explained how the orgy may have transpired to the Brussels newspaper, La Derniere Heure.
“When they left, they organized a small party to thank the police in the area … We have launched an investigation to find out what exactly happened.”
The earliest allegations of the orgy were reported by La Derniere Heure on Tuesday. Between 15 and 20 soldiers and police spent around two weeks sleeping in the police station to avoid long commutes.
The New York Times also reports that police relationships are highly fractured in Brussels, a bilingual city where power is “delicately distributed along regional and linguistic lines.” Johan de Becker, a police commander in Brussels, spoke to La Derniere Heure about the complications that arise from this fracture and acknowledged that the orgy allegations, if proven true, would be extremely serious.
“Maybe officers from other zones are implicated, and I don’t want to set off an internal fight by commenting on police officers from other zones. Internal investigations into the Brussels police are, as a rule, highly complicated and very sensitive.”
As the orgy allegations were emerging, Brussels police continued to deal with the ongoing threat of terror. Early in the week, two men were arrested in Brussels, suspected of plotting to commit a terrorist act on New Year’s Eve, according to the New York Times. Military equipment and ISIS propaganda were allegedly found in the two men’s homes, and their plan may have been to carry out a Paris-style attack in the city center of Brussels.
When the orgy likely took place, Brussels was on full lockdown, closing schools, government offices, markets, and the public transit network, according to the New York Times. Soldiers were sent to the city to help Brussels police patrol and hunt for suspected terrorists.
Six local agencies make up the Brussels police force. Brussels also has a federal police service, two intelligence services, and a terrorism threat assessment unit. Despite the controversy over the orgy and teetering power dynamic among Brussels’ various forces, Brussels-Capital commissioner Ilse Van de Keere maintains optimism and says the orgy allegations have not affected police work.
“We all read the newspapers, just like anyone else, and are aware of this story about an orgy between police officers and army soldiers,” Van de Keere said. “All these people have been working closely together for weeks now, often doing long hours … We have developed a very good working relationship with the army.”
[Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images]