The Dutch government has thwarted an intramural enricher-vs.-enricher jihad attack in the Netherlands.
Many thanks to FouseSquawk for translating this article from Dutch public broadcaster NOS:
Four people arrested for plotting attack in the Netherlands
The police have arrested four men suspected of involvement in terrorism. According to the Public Prosecution Service, they discussed, among other things, an attack on the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. It concerns two brothers of 29 and 26 from Oudenbosch, a 37-year-old man from Roosendaal and a man (39) who was arrested in Essen in Belgium.
The four Moroccan-Dutch men came into the picture in an investigation into a voice recording that the intelligence service AIVD made available in 2017 in another investigation. This focused on a suspect in Rotterdam, who had a Kalashnikov with ammunition and heavy explosives in a cellar storage room. The recording refers to an attack on the Turkish consulate.
The man who was arrested earlier in the investigation was sentenced to four years in prison last November . The Public Prosecutor had demanded eight years, and appealed.
Turkish consulate rejected
Earlier it became known that the Turkish consulate was mentioned in the recorded conversation as a target for an attack. But the condemned man, Jaouad A., rejected that plan because many Turks are fellow believers.
The court ruled last year that A. was radicalized and that since 2015 he has been a supporter of the terrorist movement Islamic State. Whether that is the case with the four that have been held today is not yet known.
According to the NOS reporter Robert Bas, AIVD head Rob Bertholee spoke about this plan last year in College Tour, when he announced in that television program that four attacks were prevented in the Netherlands.
‘Never plan to attack’
A. himself maintained that he never intended to commit an attack. In his own words he watched IS videos out of curiosity. The weapon and the explosives that he had in his garage storage were, according to him, meant to sell.
“Meant to sell”? That’s ok then.