Crime

The police launched a large-scale investigation into a fire in a building on Hilledijk in Rotterdam on Saturday afternoon. A 27-year-old man from Rotterdam was killed in the fire. Investigators believe that arson was involved, the police said in a statement.

The fire broke out on the first floor of the building at around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. A resident of the second floor tried to escape the flames by climbing out the window. He fell. The man was critically injured by the fire and his fall. Emergency workers tried to save him, but it was to no avail. He died at the scene.

A motorist caused havoc at De Vink gas station on the A20 highway near Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel during the early hours of Tuesday morning. The car crashed into the gas station's store. The four people who were in the car at the time of the incident, were arrested, the Waddinxveen-Zuidplas police said on social media. No one was injured.

An 18-year-old woman was dragged from her bicycle and raped by an as yet unidentified man on Kasteellaan in Heusden during the early hours of Monday morning. The police searched for the perpetrators for hours, but so far no arrests were made. The young woman's mother was the one who found her daughter after the attack, various sources told AD.

According to the police, the girl went out with friends in the center of Asten on Sunday night. She cycled home at around 1:00 a.m. At Kasteellaan, she was pulled from her bike, dragged into the bushes and raped, the police said.

The Dutch immigration and naturalization service was justified in its decision to revoke the residency permit of Iraqi man Vino H., the court in Groningen ruled. The 29-year-old man was convicted of killing a 96-year-old Amsterdam woman, affectionately known as Oma Toni.

After five consecutive years of consistent decrease, the number of crimes registered in the Netherlands increased in the first quarter of 2019. In the first three months of this year, 5 percent more crimes were registered than in the first quarter of 2018, according to figures the police released on Monday. 

A person was hurt in the face in a shooting on Aan het Broek in Sittard on Sunday evening, the police said. One suspect was arrested. A firearm was found in the home of the suspect, NU.nl reports.

The identity of the victim was not disclosed. The severity of their injuries is also unknown. The police partially closed own the street for investigation. 

Emergency services also received a report of a shooting on Westlandstraat. As the two streets are close together, the police assume it is the same incident. 

Fraudulent bitcoin investment advertisements using fake quotes from Dutch celebrities are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem in the Netherlands, the Fraud Help Desk told broadcaster NOS. People who fall for these scams are promised large profits on their "investment", but never see a cent.

The suggestion that Dutch chip machine manufacturer ASML was "somehow victim of a national conspiracy is wrong", CEO Peter Wennink said in a statement about reports that Chinese spies stole trade secrets from the company. "The facts of the matter are that we were robbed by a handful of our own employees based in Silicon Valley, who had broken the law to enrich themselves."

One victim who was seriously injured in a mass shooting in Utrecht last month, is still in hospital, Utrecht mayor Jan van Zanen said in a letter to the city council. The victim's current condition is unknown, NU.nl reports.

Malek F. was suffering from psychosis when he stabbed three random victims in The Hague last year, and is therefore completely unaccountable, behavioral experts concluded after examining the man. He should be treated in a psychiatric institution, in a department for patients with psychotic disorders. The chance of recurrence is high, the experts said, was revealed in a proforma hearing against the man on Wednesday, NU.nl reports.

A group of around 30 people jumped out of a truck on the A2 highway near Gronsveld in Limburg on Thursday morning. They then fled on foot into the Maastricht neighborhoods, the police said.

The people jumped out of the truck at around 8:45 a.m. The group consists of adults and children, a police spokesperson said to NU.nl. A number of them are barefoot. At this stage the police assume the people are undocumented migrants, according to the newspaper. "In any case, they don't seem to come from the Netherlands", the police spokesperson said.