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A 69-year-old was taken into custody after explosives were found in his apartment. A guest of the man was the victim of a car bombing a night earlier. Nov. 12, 2015 (photo: Zuindert community police officer Martijn Nuijten / Twitter)
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A 69-year-old was taken into custody after explosives were found in his apartment. A guest of the man was the victim of a car bombing a night earlier. Nov. 12, 2015 (photo: Zuindert community police officer Martijn Nuijten / Twitter)
Friday, 13 November 2015 - 15:32
Report: Car bomb victim has a decades-long rap sheet
Chris van Esch, the 63 year old man who was critically injured when his car exploded in Breda on Wednesday, has a criminal record spanning 30 years. His record includes drug related offenses, theft and assault, according to research done by Omroep Brabant and BN De Stem.
Van Esch's criminal career started in the 80's. In 1986 he was arrested for trying to strangle a woman he met in a bar and stealing her car. He had another encounter with the police a few months later after two stolen cars were found in his storage unit in Etten-Leur. He used the as a workshop to dismantle cars.
In the year 2000 Van Esch was sentenced to community service for stabbing his neighbor with a car key or screw driver. In December of that year, the Breda man had three visits from the police. The first encounter involved a loaded pistol he had in his possession. Then the police found 300 cannabis cuttings and a pen-gun - a gun that looks like a pen. After that he was arrested for drunk driving. He had a slice of hashish and some 200 cannabis plants with him.
Van Esch was seriously injured in Breda on Wednesday when his car exploded as he opened the door to get in. This happened after a night of playing cards at the home of his 69 year old friend. On Thursday the police discovered explosives at this friend's home and arrested him.
