Police investigating 22nd transmission mast fire, this one in Flevoland town

Someone set fire to a transmission tower in Swifterbant, Flevoland on Monday night. Emergency services managed to quickly extinguish the fire and the damage to the tower remained limited. The police did a trace evidence investigation at the scene. No arrests were made, NU.nl reports.

This is the 22nd transmission tower to be set on fire in the Netherlands since April 3rd. The police released multiple videos, showing suspects in various fires, resulting in two arrests - a Groningen man suspected of a fire in Groningen, and a man from Swifterbant suspected of a fire in Dronten.

The police are taking these crimes very seriously. Damage to transmission masts can have serious consequences for mobile coverage, and can result in the emergency services becoming unreachable.

Investigators can't comment on the motive behind these fires yet. But the national coordinator for counterterrorism NCTV believes they are being set by extremists to protest against the roll out of the 5G network. Online conspiracy theories link the 5G network to the spread of the coronavirus, claiming that 5G harms the immune system and thereby left people vulnerable to Covid-19. There is no scientific evidence to support this.