Half of Rotterdam explosions in 2024 tied to criminal underworld, police say

Half of the explosions and other violent incidents that rocked Rotterdam last year were tied to conflicts within the criminal underworld, according to the 2024 annual report released by the Rotterdam police unit. A quarter of the cases stemmed from private or business-related disputes, while the remaining incidents could not be directly traced to a specific motive.

The report highlights serious concerns about the accessibility of explosive materials. Police say that powerful explosives are no longer used exclusively by seasoned criminals. “The threshold to use them is low,” the unit stated. Many of the blasts involved “cobra’s”—a type of illegal, high-powered firework that is readily available on the black market despite being banned.

The Rotterdam police unit, made up of 8,000 employees, described 2024 as a turbulent and challenging year. In total, 19 people died from violence in Rotterdam last year, matching the number of violent deaths in 2023. The police noted that half of those arrested in 2024 were under the age of 23.

The force also reported a sharp rise in incidents involving individuals with mental health issues. In 2016, officers responded to approximately 7,000 such cases. By 2024, that number more than doubled to 16,500. Several of these incidents were serious or fatal. In one case in January, a mentally disturbed man fatally stabbed a random passerby in Rotterdam.

Street robberies increased by 33 percent in 2024. In contrast, the number of home burglaries and armed robberies fell by more than 10 percent.

The year began with a deadly blast in Schammenkamp in Rotterdam-Zuid that left three people dead and caused significant damage to surrounding homes. It ended with two men fatally shot in the IJsselmonde district, followed by another murder in the same area in early January of this year.