Utrecht shooting suspect caught after using phone to transfer cash: Report
Authorities tracked down Utrecht mass shooting suspect Gökmen T. using both financial technology and modern technology investigative techniques. The suspect is accused of killing three people and injuring five others after a carjacking in the city.
T. was found after an hours-long manhunt because he used a borrowed mobile phone to transfer money to a friend, reported both De Telegraaf and AD based on information from an anonymous source. The police were already monitoring T.'s financial activities by the time he was revealed as a main suspect in the case.
The Telegraaf reported that police discovered an unknown mobile phone number was used to log into the bank account connected to T. Police were virtually watching live as T. used the phone to transfer a sum of money out of his account.
Armed with the information, a court gave the police permission to track the phone and the phone's owner, the newspaper continued. Tracking the phone led police straight to T.'s location, both papers said.
Separately, the Telegraaf also was the only publication to report that T., who was born in Turkey, used a note found in the getaway car to claim he acted in the name of Allah and praised his "Muslim brothers." The paper did not identify its source for that information, nor if it was the same source providing information about T.'s capture.
