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According to La Dernière Heure, the orgy occurred sometime between Nov. 21, when the federal government’s crisis center raised the alert level for the Brussels region to 4, the highest, and Nov. 26, when the alert level was reduced to 3.

Soldiers had been sent to Brussels to help patrol the city, which was paralyzed with fear; schools, government offices, markets and the public transit network were all shut down.

About 20 soldiers from an infantry unit known as the Ardennes Battalion of Hunters were bivouacked at a police station in Ganshoren, a neighbourhood north of Molenbeek. According to the newspaper, after the police station closed for the night at 10 p.m., two policewomen were invited upstairs to the floor where the soldiers were sleeping and had sex with eight of them.

The newspaper said it had contacted a police commander, Johan De Becker, who did not know about the reports of an orgy but agreed that it would be “serious” if proved. On Wednesday, police officials confirmed that an investigation had begun.

“I cannot give more information on the internal investigation, because it is ongoing and because investigations into the Brussels police force are highly complicated,” the Brussels-West police spokeswoman said in a phone interview. “Right now, we don’t know the extent of the investigation yet. 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.”