Amsterdam stabbing suspect had terrorist intent: investigators

The 30-year-old Ukrainian national arrested for stabbing five people in central Amsterdam last week is suspected of five attempted murders with terrorist intent, the public prosecution department said on Tuesday.

The man, who is from a part of Ukraine largely under Russian occupation, was remanded in custody for a further 14 days by judges in Amsterdam while the investigation continues.

Officials have not said any more about why the man may have acted with terrorist intent nor given any more details about his possible motive so far.

“Terrorist intent means that the perpetrator is attempting to terrify a large part of the population,” Boes Hogewind from the Amsterdam public prosecution office told AT5.

The fact he carried out his attack in broad daylight, in a busy part of the city, supports that motive, she said.

It took over a day to confirm the suspect’s identity because he was travelling with several false sets of papers. He also used multiple knives in the apparently random attacks in the centre of the Dutch capital.

The man is being held in isolation and is only allowed contact with his lawyer. This, according to the public prosecution department, is why little information has been released so far.

It is unclear how long the man — identified by the Telegraaf as Roman D — had been in the Netherlands before the attack, but he had checked into a hotel on the Damrak, close to where the stabbings took place on Wednesday.

Four of the victims — an American couple, a Belgian woman and a Dutch teenager — remain in hospital, where their condition is described as stable.

The suspect was stopped by a British tourist who gave chase and then sat on him until the police arrived.