On Wednesday, the police arrested a 24-year-old man from Venray on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. He is suspected of making threats related to a terrorist offense and disseminating inciting writings.
The man came to the attention of the Dutch police earlier this month due to inquiries made by the Belgian police regarding several social media profiles. The Belgian authorities had the impression, based on a video on TikTok, that the user of the accounts might be planning a violent attack. This man had thousands of followers on TikTok.
The Dutch police were able to identify the man and determined that he was a resident of Venray, an asylum seeker from Syria who had been living in the Netherlands since 2018.
Martyrdom
Further investigation into the social media profiles revealed a video in which the suspect sings about and glorifies martyrdom. He also shared an image from an IS news magazine on TikTok, calling for attacks.
During the arrest of the suspect, two mobile phones and a laptop were seized. The man was brought before the examining magistrate in Rotterdam on Friday and has been placed in custody for two weeks.