Three terror suspects kept in custody as inquiries continue

Three teenagers who were arrested in dawn raids last week on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks have had their detention extended while police inquiries continue.

A 19-year-old man named as Muhammad K. was detained at his home in Eindhoven last Wednesday, at the same time as a 16-year-old youth from Rotterdam and a 17-year-old from De Rijp, a village near Alkmaar.

K. was sentenced to 112 days in prison and banned from travelling out of the Netherlands two years ago after a court convicted him of plotting attacks on nightclubs and police stations in Belgium. No attacks actually took place.

The other two suspects were among a group of 14 people aged between 14 and 30 who were arrested in April last year for allegedly inciting others to carry out terrorist attacks, using the social media platform TikTok.

The public prosecution service said the arrests were carried out by the special interventions service (DSI), acting on information from the intelligence agency AIVD. It added that no weapons were found during the raids and there were no signs that a specific attack was being planned or a target had been identified.

A magistrate in Rotterdam agreed last Friday to detain the trio in custody for a further 14 days.