Dutch acted on ‘concrete’ info of suspected planned concert attack
ROTTERDAM: Dutch police on Thursday stepped up a probe into a suspected plan to attack a Rotterdam concert by a US rock band, after receiving a “concrete” tip-off from Spanish authorities.
“There was concrete information from the Spanish police that an attack would be committed on that date, at this place and against this rock band,” said Frank Paauw, the port city’s police chief.
Spain was rocked last week by twin vehicle attacks, which killed 15 people and wounded 120.
It remained unclear, though, whether the tipoff to the Dutch was linked to the deadly Spanish incidents and when the Spanish learned of the threat.
After canceling a planned concert by the Californian band, police carried out a pre-dawn raid on a house in the southern region of Brabant, where they arrested “a 22-year-old man regarding the terror threat Wednesday evening in Rotterdam,” Paauw said.
Paauw confirmed the individual was in detention, “suspected of being involved in preparations for a terror attack.”
Justice Minister Stefan Blok told BNR radio the authorities wanted to know why he had done something “so idiotic.”
BNR radio added citing sources that the man had been arrested after “making threatening statements” over the popular messaging service app called Telegram said to be popular with terror groups.
Another man was arrested in Rotterdam late Wednesday driving a van with Spanish license plates and carrying gas canisters close to the Maassilo concert hall where the gig was due to take place.
But there were strong doubts on Thursday that he was in fact linked to the threat.
The driver was a mechanic who “appeared to be under the influence of an alcoholic substance,” police said, adding officers had found a “couple of gas canisters” in his van.
He was detained and transferred to a police facility on Wednesday, police said,
“His house was searched and no link with the terror threat was found,” police said in an English statement, adding he would be questioned Thursday after sobering up.
Spanish police ruled the man out of the inquiry saying he had “five gas canisters in his van for domestic use” but was completely drunk.
Paauw agreed it seemed “the man had had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
In May, 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a concert by US singer Ariana Grande in the northern English city of Manchester.
And in November 2015, 90 people were killed in Paris at the Bataclan concert hall where US rock band Eagles of Death Metal were playing — part of a coordinated terrorist attack on the city that night which claimed 130 lives.
“After what happened in Barcelona, I think the police really took the situation seriously and didn’t want to take any risks in Rotterdam,” said witness Usama Mohammed.
Vehicles plowed into pedestrians on Barcelona’s busy Las Ramblas boulevard on Aug. 17. A similar attack followed in the seaside resort of Cambrils in the early hours of Aug. 18.
The four-piece band, from Los Angeles, was escorted from the concert hall by police who wore bullet-proof vests.
In a statement sent to AFP, the band said they were “unharmed and are very grateful to the Rotterdam police and other responsible agencies for detecting the potential threat before anyone was hurt.”
The eclectic band refused to comment further.