Dutch police said yesterday they were questioning six men and a woman who were arrested following an anonymous tip of a terrorist threat against a popular shopping area in Amsterdam.
The warning came in a call from an unregistered phone in Belgium, and appeared to be linked to the train bombings in Madrid exactly five years earlier. Police said one of those detained is a relative of an Islamic extremist involved in the Madrid attacks who committed suicide a few weeks later as police closed in.
The Madrid bombings killed 191 people and injured 2,000 others.
PHOTO: AFP
Police said all those detained were Dutch nationals of Moroccan descent. Their identities were not released.
Authorities were to decide later yesterday whether to keep the seven, aged between 19 and 64, in detention until they are brought before a judge.
The tip came on Wednesday night, Dutch Police Commissioner Bernard Welten said.
Welten said the informant, who used a prepaid mobile phone that was later traced to Brussels, told the police the alleged terrorists intended to kill as many people as possible in Amsterdam.
The informant said three explosives had been placed in various places in the shopping mall. He gave the Dutch police specific addresses and the location and details of a van that was allegedly used by the suspects.
On Thursday morning, police sealed off the area around a large Ikea furniture store and warehouse, and a nearby street of popular electronics and sporting goods stores adjacent to the Amsterdam Arena soccer stadium.
The stores remained shut on Thursday but were given the all-clear to reopen yesterday. Police kept a strong presence in the area.
A concert by the US rock group The Killers was postponed on Thursday night because the venue was near the stadium. The concert was rescheduled for later this month.
Searches and interrogations on Thursday provided no information that a serious threat remained, police said in a statement.
Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen said no explosives were immediately found during the searches.
The Dutch anti-terror coordination office said the country’s threat level remained unchanged at “substantial,” the second-highest on a four-step scale.
The level has been unchanged for months, with experts warning that the Netherlands remains a terror target mainly because of an anti-Islam lawmaker’s film criticizing the Koran.
All intelligence services were put on alert and requested to provide information about the suspects.
National Anti-Terrorism Coordinator Theo Bot said there was no reason to take extra measures to thwart possible future terrorist attacks in the Netherlands.
Police said more arrests could be made in a later stage.
Special patrols took place by the military police in the shopping area, and a police helicopter circled over the area.
In December, the outgoing anti-terror coordinator Tjibbe Joustra described the threat level as “substantial-plus” because of Geert Wilders’ film Fitna.
The Netherlands has had no terrorist attacks on the scale of the Madrid bombings or London Underground bombings in 2005, which killed 52 people. But intelligence agencies have uncovered several alleged plots by Dutch Islamists, and several are serving jail sentences.
The country has been on alert against Islamic extremism since the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
RSS