The investigating police said in 1996, that Dutroux was part of a child-prostitution ring, that may also have been responsible for several other disappearances still unsolved. They also said that the gang around Dutroux offered $5000 per girl they received. Their criminal activities also involved car theft. It was said that the criminal network around Dutroux was involved in car theft and smuggling. The car in which Lejeune and Russo were kidnapped, has never been found. The general prosecutor, Anne Thilly, decided to have the car theft and smuggling be investigated by different police authorities in different parts of the country. In this way it was nearly impossible to investigate the connection between the car theft, kidnapping and human trafficking. According to blogger Elizabeth Vos, writing in Consortium News, Dutroux also said that Nihoul had proposed to traffic girls from Eastern countries.