suspicion
Rotterdam: Are drug gangs behind the series of attacks?
Several explosions have caused unrest in Rotterdam in recent days. The police are now investigating, as here, explosive or incendiary devices. photo
© Killian Lindenburg/ANP/dpa
Investigators recently seized a record amount of cocaine. This could be the trigger for the multitude of explosions in the city. How is this counteracted?
The Dutch port city of Rotterdam is being shaken by an increasing number of explosions and arson attacks, which are suspected to be due to settlements in the drug milieu.
After a series of explosions, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb today announced that the police and judiciary would take decisive action against the violence. The explosives or incendiary devices deposited at house entrances, facades or shops usually cause damage to property, and usually no one is injured in the night-time attacks.
Several explosions in recent days have caused unrest, the mayor said in a video message he recorded Monday night on an affected street. “I want you to know that we take this situation very seriously and, together with the police and the prosecutor, we are doing everything we can to ensure safety in our city.”
Multiple arrests
Two hours later, however, there was another attack on a coffee shop – the 50th attack this year, as reported by the public broadcaster NOS. This is already more explosions than in the entire previous year.
Police last night reported a fourth arrest in connection with the latest five blasts, a foiled attack and shootings at a building, all in two streets in Rotterdam. A 14- and a 15-year-old had previously been arrested on suspicion. The assumption is that young people are hired as henchmen for the attacks.
In March, the mayor of the city council said that the wave of attacks was a result of the successful interception of drugs in the port of Rotterdam, the NRC newspaper reported. This would increase unrest between rival gangs, which are increasingly targeting innocent relatives of rivals.
“Police and prosecutors believe the wave of attacks was largely related to the success of the drug team at the port.” The investigators seized almost 47 tons of cocaine in the port last year, more than ever before.