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Dutch police intercept Spanish van with possible explosives near Rotterdam concert

B

BrassDragon

Member
Guardian (English source), Telegraaf (Dutch source)


This is an ongoing investigation following up an intelligence lead from Spanish authorities. One arrest, no casualties. There is no confirmation this was a foiled terrorist attack, mayor has not ruled out other possibilities.

The van was intercepted close to the Maassilo in Rotterdam where American band Allah-Las was supposed to perform. The concert has been cancelled. Army specialists cleared the van for transport just before midnight.

busje


Police in Rotterdam detained the driver of a van with Spanish licence plates and a number of gas tanks inside after a concert by the US rock band Allah-Las was cancelled following a terrorism warning.

The Dutch city’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said at a hastily arranged press conference that the van’s Spanish driver was being questioned by police. Military explosives experts were deployed to examine the van, police said.

Police said the concert, which had been due to take place on Wednesday night, was called off after Dutch police received a terrorism warning. Aboutaleb said the warning had come from Spanish police.

He declined to give further details on the nature of the warning or where in Spain it had come from, adding that it was too soon to link the van to the unspecified threat directed at the concert. “It is not yet good to say that the things are linked,” Aboutaleb said. “It still has to be established that there was a link between the van and the threat. We can’t say that yet.”
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F

forknknife

Banned
I think it's most probably information from those detained I the Barcelona attacks. One of them fuckers was saying he was sorry... disgusting.

So happy this attack was prevented, I'm living in Amsterdam but have most friends living in Rotterdam.
 
C

chromatic9

Member
The band Allah-Las has regularly had messages from Muslims offended by their name. Might've been targeted like in France and Holland, not like the terroists need an excuse to blow someone up mind.
 
B

BrassDragon

Member
The intercepted van was owned by a mechanic who transported gas canisters for work. He's been cleared but the initial lead provided by the Spanish is still being followed up, with a new arrest late last night in Brabant (source: largest Dutch-language newspaper.)

The initial lead was credible enough to set up a command center and priority investigation; these emergencies staffs have not been disbanded yet. So far it's been a police matter, the government didn't raise the national terror alert which would bring military and other agencies into the mix.

Looks like the Netherlands doesn't have to worry about a strike today. If the initial warning came through the intelligence services, we're unlikely to hear exactly why they're conducting these operations which carries the risk of people thinking it's much ado about nothing (as Dutch are prone to do.)
 
T

Theorry

Member
Made sense to act indeed. Spanish car with gas canisters (like they found in that house) riding arround a place where a band is performing with the name Allah in it. I mean its looks like a coincidence after all. But damn what are the chances.
 
Audioboxer

Audioboxer

Member
chromatic9 said:
The band Allah-Las has regularly had messages from Muslims offended by their name. Might've been targeted like in France and Holland, not like the terroists need an excuse to blow someone up mind.
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I'm offended, so I'm going to go and blow people up. Seems like a reasonable escalation. Just as it was for Charlie Hebdo.

The Allah-Las have often received threats because of their name and the Spanish warning led to the gig being called off at the last minute. The Los Angeles-based indie-rock band were due to play in Warsaw later on Thursday and Polish media said the concert was expected to go ahead as planned.

In an interview last year, the Allah-Las told The Guardian newspaper that they regularly received messages from Muslims offended by the use of the word Allah - Arabic for God - in the group's name.

They said they had wanted a religious-sounding name after being inspired by the group The Jesus and Mary Chain.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41034922

Seems like there is two situations going on here though

Police have arrested a 22-year-old man in the southern Dutch province of Brabant, hours after a rock concert was cancelled because of an alert from Spanish police.

The man was detained in the early hours of Thursday as part of the inquiry into the terror threat, said police.
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Hours later, at 02:00 (00:00 GMT), a special police unit raided a house in Brabant. In a statement (in Dutch), police said a man had been arrested and his home searched. No details were given of where in Brabant the raid took place or who the suspect was.

The Dutch DSI counter-terrorism unit is involved in the investigation and a police spokesman told local TV in Brabant that the inquiry was "in full swing". The Netherlands' National Co-ordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, Dick Schoof, said the Brabant arrest had no link to the Spanish driver.
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An arrest on behalf of a tip-off from Spanish authorities and the vehicle driver with gas canisters who doesn't seem related.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Fucking hell I guess it was only a matter of time that our country was on their list huh? That is if it's indeed the same kind of lowlife scum that attacked Barcelona, Finland etc. Never heard of this band though.
 
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