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THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – Seven men were arrested in the Netherlands on Thursday because they were suspected of planning a large-scale extremist attack, which they said was foiled after a multi-month investigation.
The national prosecutor's office said in a statement that heavily armed police had arrested the men in the towns of Arnhem, about 100 kilometers south of Amsterdam, and Weert in the south of the Netherlands, near the German border. and Belgian.
The investigation was launched by intelligence services, hinting that the alleged leader, a 34-year-old man of Iraqi descent, wanted to lead an attack on the site of a major event and cause many casualties, according to the release.
The suspects would have wanted to use bullet-proof vests and assault rifles to hurt the event, and planned to detonate a car bomb elsewhere, prosecutors said. An investigation of potential targets continued.
Prosecutors said the suspects were between 21 and 34 years old. Three of them, including the 34-year-old Iraqi, had already been sentenced for trying to travel abroad to join extremist networks.
The men were trying to obtain AK47 assault rifles, handguns, bomb vests, grenades and bomb materials and were looking for opportunities to train with such weapons, the statement said.
Prosecutors said the investigation had accelerated this month due to the "advanced preparations" of the suspects.
Minister of Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus told Dutch national television that the police had acted in time to prevent an attack.
"In a sense, it's serious, but fortunately it's also good news – a terrorist cell that was plotting an attack was dismantled," Grapperhaus said. "They were not so far that it was a danger to society, in that it was almost too late. But they were far in their preparations.
The men were to be brought before an investigating judge on Friday during an in camera hearing.
The arrests came weeks after a 19-year-old Afghan citizen living in Germany stabbed two US tourists at Amsterdam's main train station in what prosecutors described as an extremist attack.
The Dutch anti-terrorism coordinator's office said in a tweet on Thursday that the allegedly thwarted plot would match the current threat profile for the Netherlands, which is four on a five-point scale. The office did not raise the level following the arrests.
"Jihad networks are also active in the Netherlands with the intention of plotting attacks in Europe," the office said. "Today's arrests must be seen in this light."
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