There were 2,600 violent robberies in the Netherlands last year, an increase of 500 on 2008, according to calculations by the AD.

Police chiefs told the paper robbers are getting younger. Over a quarter are aged under 21, and robbers of 15 and 16 are not uncommon. Armed robbery is becoming a ‘beginners crime’ police chief Frans Heeres said.
Shops, homes and cafes are being increasingly targeted because petrol stations and banks have good security, Heeres said. And gangs are no longer carefully preparing their crimes, but ‘taking snap decisions while sitting on a terrace’, he told the paper.