Suspect arrested for violent robbery linked to Rabobank leak

On Wednesday morning the police arrested a 24-year-old man from Breda for violently robbing a 78-year-old woman in her home in Bladel last year. This robbery is linked to several other robberies committed based on information from Rabobank employees about customers who withdrew large sums of money from the bank.

The 78-year-old woman was seriously injured in the robbery in September 2017. The police believe she lay injured in her home for hours before being discovered, according to Omroep Brabant. The suspect was arrested in his home in Breda around 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

A second suspect in this robbery was found dead in a flat in Breda in January. It was then that the police announced that this case may be linked to the so-called Rabobank gang. The gang committed robberies in Roosendaal and Venlo last year - robbing people shortly after they withdrew large sums of money from Rabobank. The police believe the robberies were committed based on information from Rabobank employees. On July 28th the police managed to prevent a robbery in Zundert and arrested five robbers. A 25-year-old Rabobank employee, Lorenzo J., was also arrested. A second bank employee was arrested in September.

On Wednesday the police said that the 24-year-old suspect has been in their sights for some time. The police also confirmed his link with the Rabobank gang - he knows the gang members arrested last year, according to the broadcaster. 

The motive for robbing the elderly Bladel woman was a mystery for some time, because no items seemed to be missing from her home. In January the police shed some light on this. "Our investigation showed that the victim had withdrawn a large sum of money from [Rabobank] a few months earlier. It is quite possible that the perpetrators knew this", the investigation leader said to Omroep Brabant back then.