Two caught with firebomb in Rotterdam building; Street's 3rd incident in 3 nights

The police arrested two suspects allegedly caught trying to place a firebomb at a building on Van Speykstraat in Rotterdam at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday. “Alert witnesses” noticed them messing around the entrance of the building, the Rotterdam police said on Twitter.

It was the third incident on Van Speykstraat in as many nights. Early on Tuesday morning, an explosive went off at the entrance of an apartment building. On Wednesday morning, over a dozen shots were fired at the apartment building next door.

After arresting the two suspects on Thursday morning, the police’s explosive experts examined a package left at the building’s front door. They declared the situation safe at around 6:30 a.m.

A building resident told Rijnmond that a smell of petrol was left behind after the police dismantled the firebomb. She said she was happy the police arrested the suspects but that they were probably the small fish, not those behind the attacks. According to her, the danger has not passed.

On Wednesday evening, the police also arrested a 32-year-old man for suspected involvement in explosions at apartment buildings earlier this week on Crooswijkseweg and the one on Van Speykstraat.

Rotterdam has had around 50 incidents of explosives detonated at homes and apartment buildings this year.

Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said last month that he believed the attacks to be drug-related. According to him, the authorities are now intercepting about 60 percent of the cocaine trafficked through the port of Rotterdam. He said that affected drug criminals blame each other and try to intimidate each other with attacks.