Terror suspects to remain in custody

Friday 04 January 2008

Three men have been remanded in custody for two weeks on suspicion that they were planning a terrorist attack, the public prosecution department said on Thursday afternoon.

The three, aged 31, 32 and 39, were arrested in Rotterdam on December 31 by anti-terrorism investigators. Two have Dutch and Moroccan nationality, one is Sudanese.

The three were 'arrested on suspicion of making preparations to create a terrorist explosion,' news agency AP reported.

The Telegraaf newspaper on Thursday quoted inside sources as saying the men were planning an attack during the New Year celebrations around Rotterdam's Erasmus bridge. But the public prosecution department has dismissed the allegations as being 'plucked from thin air' and criticsed the paper for causing unnecessary panic.

According to the Volkskrant, the public prosecution department does not know what the actual target, if any, was. Nor were any weapons or explosives found during searches of the men's homes. Correspondence and other incriminating material was taken away, the paper says.

The last arrests in the Netherlands for preparing a terrorist attack were in October 2005.

© DutchNews.nl

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