Suspects in Tarwekamp fatal blast wanted to commit attack a week earlier: Prosecutor
The suspects in the devastating explosion on Tarwekamp in The Hague on December 7 likely planned to commit the attack a week earlier, but were stopped by the police, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) reported on Friday. The OM also confirmed that the attack likely targeted the owner of a bridal shop in the building and said that 37 affected residents, surviving relatives, and legal entities have pressed charges.
Arson and an explosion on the Tarwekamp in The Hague on December 7 caused several homes to collapse, killing six people and injuring four others. Several homes and business premises around the directly affected block were also badly damaged. The affected residents are still not able to return to their homes.
The police arrested four men in the days following the explosion - a 33-year-old from Rotterdam, a 33-year-old from Oosterhout, and two men from Roosendaal, aged 29 and 23. They were in restricted custody until today, when the court lifted the restrictions. Now the authorities are able to share some more information about the investigation.
The OM reported that the police stopped and searched the two Roosendaal suspects on a parking lot in Oosterhout on the night of December 1, a week before the fatal explosion. The men were behaving suspiciously, so the police decided to check their van. Inside, they found heavy fireworks and jerry cans of petrol, among other things. The police arrested the suspects on suspicion of preparatory acts for arson, and confiscated the arson-related items as well as several phones. The police questioned the men and then released them pending the results of the investigation into the phones.
“It has now become clear that the suspects had probably already wanted to start a fire or cause an explosion at the bridal fashion store on Tarwekamp that night,” the OM said.
According to the OM, the 33-year-old man from Rotterdam is the person behind the attack. He knows the owner of the bridal fashion, who the authorities believe was the target of the attack, and hired the other three suspects to help carry out the attack.
The four men are suspected of involvement in the explosion on December 7, arson in a car that same morning, and preparing for a crime on December 1.
“The explosion in the early morning of December 7 resulted in fatalities, injuries, and unimaginable devastation,” the OM said, revealing that 37 affected persons and legal entities have pressed charges. “They include the directly affected residents and relatives, but also locals who were frightened by the explosion and were confronted with the dramatic consequences that night, or local residents and shopkeepers who suffered direct material damage.”
The OM is currently processing the filed charges. The suspects are still in custody and will appear at their first public hearing on March 14. Then, the OM will explain the state of the investigation and the examining magistrate will decide whether to keep them in custody.
