Suspect arrested for false grenade threats at Amsterdam club
An arrest was made on Tuesday connected to two false reports of a hand grenade at the Mad Fox club. Calls to police were made on March 6 and April 5 with phones or phone numbers that were used just once, according to broadcaster AT5.
The caller claimed there was a grenade at the club, which is below the W Hotel on Spuistraat, bringing police out to investigate each time. Nothing was found in those searches.
However, a live hand grenade did explode at the club’s front door on April 5, preceding at least one phoned-in report. There were no injuries in the blast.
De politie heeft de omgeving van de #Spuistraat tijdelijk afgezet na een melding van een harde knal. Het gebied is inmiddels vrijgegeven, volgens de politie zou het gaan om een valse melding. Vanochtend kreeg de politie ook al een melding daar van een mogelijke ontploffing. pic.twitter.com/F9ayy32qbx
— Robby Hiel (@PersburoUNN) April 5, 2019
Police did not reveal any information about the suspect, their supposed motive, nor how the person was eventually apprehended.
The false reports and the explosion led to Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, to temporarily shut the club by executive order. At the time, a Mad Fox spokesperson told NL Times they were fully cooperating with the investigation.
Following the arrest, a Mad Fox representative declined to comment, as the investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for Mayor Halsema did not respond to a request for comment.
No portion of the W Hotel was shut down during the investigation.
A few weeks after the April 5 series of incidents, Amsterdam launched a task force to investigate the use of explosives as a means to extort business owners. The arrest took place the same week Amsterdam’s government gave the task force a one-year deadline to develop effective solutions to the problem.
