Today, the public prosecutor demanded an eight-year prison sentence against a 22-year-old man from Rotterdam. The man is suspected of being involved in preparing an explosion in Amsterdam-Nieuw-West. Additionally, he is suspected of having exploited seven youths, six of whom were minors, by making them commit serious criminal offenses.
The man is suspected of being involved in preparations to cause an explosion at a house and a car in Amsterdam-Nieuw-West on the night of February 24 to 25, 2024. That particular night, the resident of the house, where a fire had also been set a few days earlier, saw two boys in his street behaving suspiciously. After he apprehended one of those boys and handed him over to the police, a bag containing homemade explosives was found with that boy. This boy stated that he and another boy were supposed to place and ignite explosives at the house and car for money. They were then to film the explosions and share them via Snapchat.
The suspect who appeared in court today is also suspected of criminal exploitation of these two minor executors – then 15 and 16 years old. He allegedly picked them up with his car - an orange Toyota Aygo - and drove them, with the explosives in the car, to the respective house in Amsterdam.
Antwerp
During the police investigation into this suspect, it became apparent that in Antwerp, three minor boys (14, 14, and 17 years old) and one adult man from the Netherlands were arrested in the first half of March 2024 on suspicion of retrieving drugs from containers in the Antwerp port. It was noted that an orange Toyota Aygo seemed to be involved each time, the suspects car. In a previous hearing, the suspect admitted that he had dropped off the boys with his car at the port and that he knew it was related to retrieving narcotics.
Wiretap Conversation
From late April 2024, the suspect was under wiretap. Immediately after the wiretap was installed, the police heard a conversation between the suspect and what later became clear was a 16-year-old boy. In that conversation, the suspect indicated that he would arrange bombs and addresses and that the 16-year-old boy had to blow up houses.
Unsafe
According to the Public Prosecution Service, it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect is guilty of being involved in preparations to cause an explosion and of criminally exploiting six minor boys and one adult. The residents of the house in Nieuw-West still feel unsafe.
Criminal Exploitation
The suspect had others – primarily minors – do the dirty work. “These young boys, also here with a clean to virtually empty criminal record, are being sucked into the criminal environment in the way this is done and used as disposable items. They find themselves – in some cases already at 14 years old – in an environment of hard drugs, of death and destruction, and it is an environment from which they cannot escape. Their lives are disrupted, and a chance for a beautiful future is taken from them by these acts.”
The prosecutor finds this particularly reprehensible. Considering everything, the public prosecutor comes to a demand of eight years in prison.
Verdict on June 11.