AUCH, France, May 24 (AFP) - Teams of French detectives Monday scoured a lonely 10-room house where two middle-aged Dutch couples were found Saturday, three with their throats cut and one shot through the chest. Detectives threw a 300 metre (yard) wide cordon round the house, which one of the couples, Artie and Marianne Van Hulst, bought only last October, and performed a detailed examination of the interior and surroundings. State attorney Guy Etienne said the crime in the hamlet of Boupilleres in the Gers district of south-western France appeared to have been prepared minutely by one or more attackers. Police say it was not immediately apparent whether anything had been stolen, although the house had been left in some disorder. Two women and one of the men were found gagged and bound hand and foot with adhesive tape, their throats slit. The other man was found shot. The bodies were found in various rooms of the recently-restored white stone house. The victims are Artie van Hulst and his wife Marianne, both 51, and Dora Vandam, and her husband Jowan Nieuwenhuizen, aged 62. The two women were sisters. Artie van Hulst was head of a security technology company, Veiligheidstechniek Nederland BV, of Oss in northern Brabant. The state attorney described it as "a horrible crime, a major piece of savagery, indeed barbarity." "There was no sign of a struggle but there was a certain amount of disorder in the house," Etienne said. The bodies of the two women were found, gagged and bound hand and foot with their throats cut, lying on their backs in different rooms. Jowan Nieuwenhuizen was found in the kitchen, likewise bound and gagged and with his throat cut, but placed face downwards. The fourth victim, Artie van Hulst, was found in a workroom behind the kitchen where he had apparently tried to barricade himself in to evade the attackers. He had been shot with a bullet through the chest, but no weapon was found. The killer or killers had taken some precautions before departing, hiding the victims' three cars in the garage, closing the brown window shutters, and putting up a chain across the entrance to the property to give the impression there was no one in the house. Police removed the cars Monday to another part of the property. The alarm was given Saturday by another Dutch couple residing in the area. They had arrived at the house on Friday evening following a dinner invitation, but no one had answered the door. They returned Saturday, became suspicious and broke in. The bodies were transferred to a forensic institute at Toulouse on Sunday afternoon. The results of autopsies were expected Tuesday.  