Wikileaks: Hague terrorist attack broken up decade ago

An anonymous letter from a tipster may have stopped a terrorist attack on embassies in the Netherlands in the summer of 2004. This is evident from diplomatic messages released by WikiLeaks.

In August 2004 the Amsterdam police and the General Intelligence and Security Service, or AIVD, received an anonymous letter from someone calling himself an "honest Muslim and Moroccan". This man states that he is employed as a spiritual contact for Muslim young people in Amsterdam. He says that he was approached by a young Moroccan who wanted to borrow 6 thousand euros. When asked what he wanted to do with the money, the young man said that he was preparing underground activities and needed the money to buy weapons hand grenades and time-bombs.

The letter writer asked him what he wanted to do with these weapons and he responded that he and other Moroccans wanted to commit an attack in the Netherlands. The young Moroccan did not want to reveal the location of the attacks, but did say that he has "a very important target in mind where Jews and Americans work". The letter writer took his name and address and sent the information to the authorities. "I am a honest Muslim and Moroccan. That is why I report this person to the police and the Intelligence service of the Netherlands", the letter reads. "My advice will be that this person cannot freely move around in the Netherlands.

The Dutch authorities took the tip seriously and shared the letter with the Israeli embassy, who in turn shared it with the American embassy. Based on the letter, the Israelis thought there were two possible locations for an attack - the US Embassy and the American School in The Hague - as bot Americans and Jews work at those locations.

The diplomatic documents do not state what steps were taken The AIVD's 2004 annual report makes mention of the threat.