Arab Times

Dutch, Belgians arrest 4:

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Dutch and Belgian police arrested four men on terrorrela­ted charges Monday, including plotting a possible attack on the Turkish consulate in the port city of Rotterdam, prosecutor­s said.

Two brothers, aged 29 and 26, were arrested in the southern Dutch village of Oudenbosch, while a third man, aged 37, was picked up in the southern city of Roosendaal, the Dutch public prosecutio­n service said in a statement.

The fourth suspect, aged 39, was detained just across the border in Essen, northern Belgium, the prosecutor­s added.

The police investigat­ion “focused on the preparatio­n and training for terrorism as well as incitement to terrorism through the distributi­on of violent jihadism through social media,” the statement said.

The arrests followed an intercepte­d phone conversati­on between a number of the suspects and a convicted Dutch jihadist, identified as Jaouad. A. by the Dutch media.

Jaouad A. was sentenced to four years in jail in November, for preparing a terror attack, after police raided his Rotterdam flat and found an AK-47 assault rifle, ammunition and a large amount of fireworks.

Police also uncovered a painting with a picture of the flag used by the Islamic State group and some 1,600 euros ($1,800) in cash.

“A planned attack on the Turkish consulate is discussed in an intercepte­d sound fragment” of the telephone conversati­on, prosecutor­s said.

Dutch public broadcaste­r NOS said it was also previously known that Jaouad A. had indeed discussed plans to attack the Turkish consulate, but had rejected the idea because many Turks were Muslims.

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