Groningen man arrested for preparing a terrorist attack

A 48-year-old man from Groningen was arrested in the Overijssel town of De Lutte last week for preparing a terrorist crime, the Public Prosecutor announced on Wednesday. The police launched an investigation into the man after information from intelligence service AIVD that the man adheres to ISIS ideology.

The police searched the place where the man was arrested, as well as his home in Groningen. In the Groningen home, the police found a children's backpack containing a pistol in the meter cupboard, as well as a box with loose ammunition. These items were confiscated, as well as data carriers and documents "in which the armed struggle against the unbelievers is glorified", the Prosecutor said.

The Prosecutor could not say what the man was doing in De Lutte. The suspect was arraigned on Tuesday and remanded into custody for 90 days. According to the Prosecutor, he refused to give a statement to the police.

Sources around the investigation told RTL Nieuws that the suspect does not have a criminal record and isn't a jihadist that returned from the armed struggle in Syria. He was arrested in an apartment on a camping farm in De Lutte, close to the border with Germany, according to the broadcaster.

RTV Oost reports that the man works for a chicken slaughterhouse.