Three arrested after explosion at Amsterdam Nieuw-West fitness center
It has become known on Saturday that three people have been arrested and two vehicles seized in connection with the blast at a building housing a fitness center in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, which took place on Friday at around 12:15 a.m. Police had previously only referred to the number of arrests and cars seized as “several.” The explosion ignited a fire, causing part of the structure to collapse and damaging a neighboring apartment building.
Seven people were injured, including two critically. One of the two critically injured is expected to undergo multiple amputations and is alleged to have been part of a group of teens and young men preparing explosives for ATM bombings in the building's basement. The authorities are not releasing any information about the arrested individuals yet.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation. Detectives are considering various scenarios, including the possibility of criminal activity involving explosives, Het Parool reports. On Saturday morning, the Safety Region declared the site safe; no victims were found under the rubble, allowing forensic teams to begin their investigation.
On Friday, residents told NL Times they believed the blast and its victims could be connected to earlier ATM bombings. Soon after the explosion, two people were seen fleeing from the area. One resident told the Telegraaf that individuals sped away in a black Audi RS3 or RS6. Parool reported similar information, also adding that the car had German license plates.
Sources reportedly told Parool that seven to eight teenagers and young men allegedly used a basement under a fitness center to assemble explosives. The devices reportedly included large charges intended for ATM blasts and smaller ones meant to force entry for burglaries in Germany. The explosion may have been triggered when several of the youths were smoking near the explosives, causing a chain reaction. Among the injured is a man in his early 20s, reportedly the younger brother of a convicted offender serving four years for organizing ATM bombings in Amsterdam, Kaatsheuvel, and near the German border. He suffered burn injuries. Another victim, a close friend of the first, is in critical condition and reportedly faces amputations of both legs and one arm.
“You know, this isn’t the first explosion around here. I’m not worried about this,” a local resident, whose baby slept through the whole thing, told NL Times on Friday. “This is Amsterdam. Crazy things happen here.”
“This neighborhood has really changed, especially in recent years,” said a woman who has lived in the area for over 40 years, claiming some of the boys who grow up in the area are aggressively rude, dismissive towards other residents, and behave like criminals. She described incidents of brazen theft from different storefront businesses and how some of the boys act menacingly from the first moment a neighbor asks them to be more considerate.
“Osdorp is not the same,” she said. “Young boys and men hang out day and night by the playground, drinking or doing drugs, and never respecting my husband or me when we ask them to quiet down at night,” she said, referencing an inner courtyard by the fitness center. The small football field and children’s equipment there is fenced in with signs asking people to keep quiet after 10 p.m.
“It was genuinely scary. It feels like things got worse around here.”
The explosion in Amsterdam is not the first to occur in a residential area. In January 2024, a drug lab exploded in Rotterdam-Zuid, killing three people and severely damaging dozens of homes. Later that same year, a devastating explosion occurred at Tarwekamp in The Hague; six people lost their lives, and several homes collapsed. The number of attacks involving explosives remained consistently high throughout the past year.
“Insecurity in residential areas has increased,” criminologist Emile Kolthoff of the Open University told NOS. “Caused by ATM bombers, for instance, but also by drug labs and storage sites for the materials needed for such activities.”
ATM bombers, however, fall into a completely different category of criminal, says Kolthoff. “They are far less professionally organized. They are amateurs—guys out for a quick buck.”
They often work sloppily when making explosives, says criminologist Jasper van der Kemp of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “They extract flash powder from illegal fireworks and bundle it together. If you mix powder from different types of fireworks, you naturally have no idea how big the resulting explosion will be.”
“The problem is that there is currently too little oversight regarding illegal fireworks. They are likely often just stored in basement storage units and private homes.”
