Update: Seven held in anti-terror raids in the Netherlands [Shots fired in Hague raid]

Expatica ^ | 14 October 2005

[Eurotwit]

AMSTERDAM — Shots were fired as police raided a building on the Moerweg in The Hague on Friday.

Dutch parliament buildings hermetically sealed by police

Witnesses reported seeing masked men with automatic weapons entering a flat complex on Moerweg which has been sealed off by the police. Radio 1 News was told of people hearing gunfire.

The police in The Hague have declined to comment at this stage about the reports. A spokesperson would only say police operations are taking place at several locations in the city. She would also not confirm that a raid was carried out at a school on Van Ostadestraat.

It is unclear if these raids are connected to the sealing off of parliament buildings in The Hague.

[Eurotwit]

Dutch parliament buildings hermetically sealed by police

14 October 2005

AMSTERDAM — Police officers and members of the specialist Mobiele Eenheid sealed off the parliament complex in The Hague on Friday morning.

Shots fired in Hague raid

No reason has been given for the closure of the 'Binnenhof'.

Haaglanden police department has referred all questions to the office of the national anti-terrorism Coördinator (NCTb).

But a spokesman there declined to shed any light on the matter. "What you see is what you see," he said. He indicated the situation would be clarified later on Friday.

Sources have told news agency ANP that there is a "heightened threat" but there is no further information on what this threat is.

Parliament buildings (file picture) As far as the media is aware there are no high-level meetings or major foreign officials scheduled for the Binnenhof or in the Dutch parliament on Friday. The Cabinet is to hold its weekly Friday meeting in the Trêves-zaal.

Parliament does not meet on Friday and few MPs are in and around the Binnenhof by the end of the working week. One door into the parliament (De Tweede Kamer) is locked and members of the Mobiele Eenheid are guarding the entrance on Het Plein (the square).

Police officers are also stopping and checking passing cars.

[nuconvert]

have any more info on this?

[Eurotwit]

SKy News reports that 7 people are in custody after a number of anti-terror raids...

[nuconvert]

Good. Thanx.

[mtbopfuyn]

Dutch parliament buildings hermetically sealed by police

Wow, hermetically sealed?

[Eurotwit]

hmm. Sky News reporting there is shooting in Hague...

[Eurotwit]

Seven held in anti-terror raids in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM — Seven police were arrested during raids by elite anti-terrorism police in the Netherlands on Friday.

The operation was designed to prevent terror attacks. It was ordered by the national detective unit as part of an investigation into a terrorist organisation, a spokesperson for the office of the public prosecutor (OM) said.

The suspects were held in Almere, Amsterdam and The Hague. Six of the suspects are men, aged 18 to 30. The seventh is a 24-year-old woman. One of the men is 19-year-old Samir A., the OM spokesperson said.

A. was cleared by a court earlier this year of charges he was plotting terrorist attacks on a nuclear power station and other key installations in the Netherlands. He is considered the main suspect in the latest investigation.

Reports received by the Dutch intelligence service AIVD suggested, the OM said, that A. was trying to obtain automatic weapons and explosives.

Due to the perceived danger, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner granted permission for the use of elite BBE-SIE police units to carry out the arrests.

Earlier on Friday, it was reported shots had been as police raided a building on the Moerweg in The Hague.



Dutch parliament buildings sealed by police





Witnesses reported seeing masked men with automatic weapons entering a flat complex. The Moerweg had been sealed off by the police. Radio 1 News was told of people hearing gunfire.


Also on Friday, police sealed off parliament buildings in The Hague.

[nuconvert]

" Seven police were arrested ..."

?

[sgtbono2002]

If the Milosovic trial is anything to judge by they will be in jail ten years before they get convicted.

The Hague--what a joke.

[jer33 3]

Ping

[FreedomPoster]

Glad to see the Dutch cleaning house.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Yes, hermetically sealed, for your protection.

(If I knew how I'd post a picture of a toilet seat here)

[SE Mom]

Well THIS will be interesting...thanks for the post.

[SIRTRIS]

Yeah, saw that too plus a few others maybe the translation?

[eddie willers]

Six of the suspects are men, aged 18 to 30. The seventh is a 24-year-old woman. One of the men is 19-year-old Samir A.

My guess is a gaggle of Mohammeds

[1rudeboy]

Actually, they will probably by tried, convicted, and sentenced in the time it takes to go through pre-trial discovery and jury selection here in the States. And I doubt Milosevic was prosecuted under Dutch law.

[Liberty Valance]

Look out for A. .... BC&D can't be far behind.

[Charlespg]

19-year-old Samir A.

Let me guess its the Buddhists again--/sarcasm

[TomGuy]

What? Guns in Europe?

Somebody didn't get the memo.

[son of caesar]

ya think?

[ElisabethInCincy]

Come on eddie.. we all know it was jewish spies dressed up as muslims and bear muslim names once again eh ? lol

[ElisabethInCincy]

Omg Not the dreaded BC& D ???????? The horror

[HHKrepublican_2]

Didnt they announce they were going to ban Burkas and headdresses yesterday?

[expatpat]

You see, that duct tape really works.

[railsplitter]

There's more... hermetically sealed and kept in a mayonaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch !

[Semper Paratus]

With this and several murders the Dutch are waking up from their multi-cultural coma.

[ExSoldier]

Isn't The Hague the location for the International Criminal Court? If the UN has it's way that's where they'll send US citizens and US soldiers accused of violating the human rights of foreign citizens. Like if a police officer in the USA stops a middle eastern man dressed in a heavy floor length coat in the middle of the day in the Houston oil refinery district....

[cgk]

Maybe Joran is pulling an O.J.

All kidding aside, glad to see some in the EU grow a backbone and go after evil.

[knighthawk]

They re-arrested Samir A. who was arrested earlier for suspected terroristic plans but released for lack of evidence.

[nuconvert]

I thought I just heard that they're all Dutch citizens. True?

[bella1]

There go those darn Mormons again.

[knighthawk]

They are Dutch citizens because they were born here, so they have a dual-nationality, Dutch and Moroccan.

And a little more:

Seven held over suspected Dutch bomb plot
By David Sanderson



Dutch police have arrested seven people suspected of plotting attacks against politicians and government buildings in a series of raids across the country today, during which gunshots were heard.



Government ministries in The Hague were sealed off as anti-terrorist officers arrested the seven suspects. One of the men held was acquitted earlier this year on charges of planning terrorist attacks.

The national prosecutor’s office said the main suspect, Samir Azzouz, 19, was allegedly trying to buy automatic weapons and explosives "probably to carry out an attack with others on several politicians and government buildings".

The Dutch national anti-terrorism coordinator said that the arrests had led to security measures being stepped up at high-profile targets in the country adding that the terrorist threat was "substantial".

Around two dozen police officers in riot gear closed entrances leading to both houses of parliament and the government’s information service as the raids were carried out in The Hague, Amsterdam and nearby Almere. Prosecutors refused to identify those arrested, with the exception of Azzouz.

They said there were another five men aged between 18-30 and one 24-year-old woman. The suspects, who are all Dutch citizens, are due to appear in court on Monday.

Dutch national public Radio 1 said that raids had been carried out on a school in The Hague and that eyewitnesses reported hearing gunfire in the largely immigrant Schilderswijk neighbourhood of the Dutch capital. Police refused to confirm the reports.

"I walked around the corner and saw someone waving a gun shooting in the street," an unidentified witness told the NOS broadcaster.

The Dutch media reported yesterday that renewed threats had been made against two members of parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, who are both outspoken critics of Islamic extremism. The two went into hiding for several months last year after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam.

Dutch authorities raised a national security alert last July after they arrested Azzouz and found machinegun cartridges, a bullet-proof vest, two mock explosive devices, a silencer, maps and sketches of prominent buildings in his home. But a Rotterdam court ruled in April that there was not enough evidence to convict Azzouz for plotting bomb attacks.

He was sentenced to three months imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons, but was freed on the day of the hearing because of time already spent in custody.

Prosecutors have separately linked Azzouz to a militant Islamist network that is suspected of plots to kill leading politicians critical of Islam and of ties to the man charged with the November murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

Twelve members of the so-called "Hofstad" group were detained after Van Gogh was killed, and they face trial for membership of a criminal organisation and planning to kill prominent politicians.

The country’s security alert has been at "substantial" since the bombing attacks in London on July 7. This is the second highest threat in the Netherlands’ four-stage warning system.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1825986,00.html

[Sidebar Moderator]

Your response was removed because Bloomberg.com has asked us not to allow any of their material to be posted to Free Republic.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts

[nuconvert]

Moroccans again.
thanx for the info

[cake_crumb]

"Dutch authorities raised a national security alert last July after they arrested Azzouz and found machinegun cartridges, a bullet-proof vest, two mock explosive devices, a silencer, maps and sketches of prominent buildings in his home. But a Rotterdam court ruled in April that there was not enough evidence to convict Azzouz for plotting bomb attacks."

Yeah, he coulda been making his own picture postcards /sarc

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks for the update.

It's been a busy few days around the world.

[COBOL2Java]

There's more... hermetically sealed and kept in a mayonaise jar on Funk and Wagnall's porch !

LOL! We're showing our age! :-)

[Rockitz]

Wow, hermetically sealed?

Gotta protect the mucky-mucks from chemical and biological weapons attacks. I'm guessing we have the same for our government officals.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Dutch media reported yesterday that renewed threats had been made against two members of parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, who are both outspoken critics of Islamic extremism.

Something is happening in Baghdad!

See :

Sunni Divisions

[Heatseeker]

There go those darn Mormons again.

Nah, it's those radical Puritans. The Dutch had trouble with them once before you know. ;)

[aculeus]

October 14, 2005

Holland's problem

Reports coming from Holland today indicate that Dutch authorities have carried out anti-terror raids in various cities, arresting seven individuals between The Hague and Amsterdam. Officials have revealed that the main target of the operation is 19-year-old Samir Azzouz. Azzouz is the enfant prodige of the so-called Hofstad group, the maxi-cell responsible for the assassination of Theo van Gogh and other attempted attacks in Portugal and Holland, and the living example of the inadequacy of the Dutch anti-terrorism system. At age 16 Amsterdam-born Azzouz attempted to join the mujhaeddin fighting in Chechnya with Abdelaziz Beniyach, a leading GICM member, but the two were arrested by Ukrainian custom officers before reaching the Caucasus. Once back in Holland, Azzouz was arrested a first time in the fall of 2003 along with Mohammed Bouyeri, the future killer of Theo van Gogh, but both men were immediately released for lack of evidence. By the first months of 2004 17-year-old Azzouz had become one of the key elements of the Hofstad group. According to Dutch authorities, he had begun surveiling key installations throughout the Netherlands that were suitable targets for attacks. In June, he was arrested in connection with the robbery of the small supermarket where he worked, and police searched his Rotterdam apartment. Investigators found a gun, two ammunition clips, night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and chemicals commonly used in making bombs. They also found sketches and floor plans of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the headquarters of the AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, Dutch intelligence agency), the parliament and Defense Ministry in The Hague, and a nuclear power plant in Borssele.
Dutch prosecutors, who tried Azzouz as an adult, asked for a sentence of seven years. They also demanded that Azzouz be denied his voting rights for twelve years, an unusual request that they argued was justified because he had tried to “attack democracy.” But as often happens in terrorism trials in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam court acquitted Azzouz, sentencing him to only three months for illegal possession of firearms, a term he had already served. Exiting the courthouse with his wife, Azzouz celebrated his release by punching a freelance photographer and knocking him unconscious against a parked car.
The recently published 2004 Dutch intelligence report clearly states that “The AIVD considers this radical Muslim as one of the core members of the Hofstad group.”
Today’s events clearly show both Azzouz’s dangerousness and the Dutch legal system’s inability to deal with the severe terrorist threat it is facing.


Posted by Lorenzo Vidino at 12:09 PM | Permalink


From:http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/10/hollands_proble.html

[samadams2000]

Into the Beehives!

[omega4179]

how DARE those imperialistic Dutch. Their "bring it on" attitude will just encourage more Terror.

[rochester_veteran]

I'm really surprise that the AIVD hasn't taken out Samir Azzouz. This guy is a blatant terrorist, not even trying to hide is intensions. The AIVD has to make this dude disappear forever.

[Squeako]

Seven lone, unrelated suicide attempts.

[Madame Dufarge]

Exiting the courthouse with his wife, Azzouz celebrated his release by punching a freelance photographer and knocking him unconscious against a parked car.

And then just walked away, unarrested apparently.

Good Lord.

[TChris]

(If I knew how I'd post a picture of a toilet seat here)

To post picture of toilet seat: <img src="http://www.somesite.net/path/image_file.jpg">

For example, this image is posted by entering <img src="http://www.plumbingstore.com/images/toilet-seat-1900ccp.jpg">

If you're using Internet Explorer, you get the URL by right-clicking on the image you want, then selecting "Copy Shortcut" from the popup menu. After you type the <img src=" you just press Ctrl+V to paste the copied link into your text, then finish with ">

One warning: There are sites that don't like you to link their images. If you get one of those, the actual image posted to FR will not be the one you intended. It will usually be some kind of warning not to link their images. However, most news sites don't have any restrictions on linking.