Man, 20, arrested in Bergen op Zoom in terrorism investigation
The police arrested a 20-year-old man in Bergen op Zoom on Thursday evening as part of a terrorism investigation, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) reported on Monday. The man is suspected of planning to join ISKP, the Afghanistan branch of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS).
The intelligence service AIVD informed the police of the young man’s plans last week Thursday. The suspect allegedly had contact with people orchestrating attacks on behalf of the terrorist group.
Given the severity of the suspicion, the police deployed a team of their Special Intervention Service (DSI) to arrest the man that same day.
The OM suspects the man of participating in a terrorist organization and preparing to commit a terrorist crime. He is in restricted custody, which means that he is only allowed to have contact with his lawyer. The man was arraigned on Monday and remanded into custody for at least another two weeks.
Last week, the police also arrested three teenagers suspected of terrorism during overnight raids in Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and Alkmaar. The suspects, aged 16, 17, and 19, were arraigned and remanded into custody on Friday. They are suspected of “preparing a possible attack.” Two of them were previously convicted of terrorist-related crimes.
It is unclear whether the Bergen op Zoom arrest is related to these other arrests.
ISKP stands for Islamic State Khorasan Province, referring to the ancient Persian name for the region in which the terrorist organization operates, NOS reports. The branch of ISIS originated in Afghanistan, but has spread to several countries in Central Asia and also has offshoots in countries in Western Europe.
In recent years, ISKP has claimed responsibility for several major attacks, including an attack in Moscow in 2024 where 149 people were killed at the Crocus City Hall. ISKP also claimed two bomb attacks in Iran in 2024 in which 84 people died, and a suicide attack at the airport in Kabul in 2021, killing 183 people.