By MIKE CORDER
Saturday, December 10, 2016
The man was detained by Dutch police on suspicion of preparing a terrorist crime.
Dutch military police carry out controls at the entrance to Rotterdam Airport on November 17, 2016. Intelligence experts in the Netherlands have estimated that Daesh has between 60-80 operatives planted in Europe. (REMKO DE WAAL / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS—Dutch police detained a 30-year-old man on suspicion of preparing a terrorist crime after finding a Kalashnikov rifle, two full ammunition clips and a painting featuring a flag used by the Daesh group at his home, prosecutors announced Friday.
The suspect was detained Wednesday by a special arrest team in the Netherlands port city of Rotterdam following an investigation that was triggered by a tip from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, prosecutors said in a statement. The man appeared before an investigating judge on Friday and was ordered held for two more weeks.
Along with the weapons and image of the Daesh group flag, also known as ISIS or ISIL, officers who searched the man’s home also uncovered four boxes of highly explosive illegal fireworks, mobile telephones and €1,600 in cash.
Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office, said investigators do not think at this stage that other suspects are linked to the Rotterdam resident.
“The whole investigation and information fromd the intelligence services was linked to this one man,” De Bruin said in a telephone interview. “But I don’t know what else might come out of the investigation.”
De Bruin said the nature of the threat the man allegedly posed remained unclear.
“That is part of the investigation, but not known,” he said.
The suspect’s identity was not released, in line with Dutch privacy guidelines, but De Bruin said he was a Dutch national.
Last month, the Dutch intelligence service warned that the country remained at risk from Islamic extremists inspired by the Islamic State group. The threat level for the country is at four on a scale that rises to five.
The Wednesday arrest was not the first time a terror suspect has been detained in Rotterdam. In March, a 32-year-old Frenchman was arrested at the request of French authorities who suspected him of involvement in a terror plot. De Bruin said Wednesday’s operation had no connection to that arrest.