Men Raped and Injected Other Men with HIV

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Three men in the Dutch city of Groningen have been arrested on suspicion of drugging, raping and injecting other men with HIV-infected blood during sex parties and a fourth man was arrested on drug charges connected to the case.

"The suspicion is that, at these parties, they had unsafe sex with people they had drugged, and also that these people were injected with infected blood," district police chief Ronald Zwarter said at a news conference Wednesday. The four suspects, all of whom are HIV positive, were arrested May 13, he said.

Two of the suspects have confessed to injecting the victims, he said.

"The motive to do this was the 'kick,' and the feeling that unsafe sex is 'pure,'" Zwarter said.

Police said two of the suspects face charges of rape and "premeditated severe assault," while one will be charged for allegedly selling "a considerable amount of drugs," including Ecstasy and GHB. The investigation was still ongoing to determine exactly what crimes might have been committed by the fourth suspect.

The police confiscated several liters of GHB, sometimes known as a "rape drug," as well as thousands of ecstasy pills, photographs and other evidence.

A court in Groningen on Wednesday ordered the suspects to be held in prison for at least 90 days.

The arrests followed complaints from at least five men who said they had been raped.

"The victims said they had had been made helpless or unconscious and then abused," a police statement said. "They had ... involuntary and unsafe sex with one or more of the suspects."

All of the victims believed they had been infected with HIV as a result of the injections.

Police didn't rule out further arrests, and urged other victims to come forward or to contact a help line to receive HIV testing information.