Possible hand grenade found in front of Amsterdam home
Another explosive was found in Amsterdam, this time in front of a home on Westerduinenstraat. Defense's explosive disposal squad is on the way to investigate, the police said on Twitter. The area around the home is closed down.
The explosive was found by construction workers around 6:30 a.m., according to Het Parool. "A hand grenade lay in front of one of the front doors. I nearly died of fright. Suddenly you are a meter away from an explosive", one construction worker said to the newspaper. "While my colleague called the police, I immediately jumped into the stairwell and went to other residents to say they had to stay inside."
There's been multiple incidents involving explosives in Amsterdam over the past two years. On November 1st a hand a hand grenade was found on Bijlmerplein, the second in a week. In October hand grenades were found on Bijlmerplein and in front of a hotel near one of the southern entrances of Vondelpark, an explosive was found in front of a business on Lemelerbergweg in Zuidoost, and a firebomb was thrown into restaurant Hotel Buiten on Sloterplas.
In August there were five incidents involving grenades in the Amsterdam area. A grenade exploded in apartment building Buekehnorst in Diemen on August 31st. An explosive was found on Voetboogstraat on August 16th. A day earlier a grenade exploded in front of the Marovaan restaurant on Johan Huizingalaan. And the day before that explosives were found on Jan Evertsenstraat and again Johan Huizingalaan.
A grenade exploded in front of a home on Nieuwenhuysenstraat in the Amsterdam district of Slotermeer on July 25th, and one was found at a cocktail bar on Korte Leidsedwarsstraat in January. Last year grenades were found at club In the City on Leidseplein and Club ABE on Amstelstraat.
Since May multiple business owners in the city received an email threatening them with shootings or hand grenades if they do not pay 50 thousand euros in bitcoin.
Last month Amsterdam police chief Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said that the increased use of hand grenades likely has to do with how cheap they are - they can be bought on the dark web or black market for between 5 and 20 euros.