Two arrested for Prinsjesdag train sabotage

Police have arrested two people in connection with the sabotage on the railway during Prinsjesdag, the public prosecution service (OM) announced on Friday.

A 49-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman from Drenthe were arrested on Thursday. According to the OM, the pair remain suspects but there was not enough evidence to keep them in custody.

Train services across the country were disrupted in September in what network operators described an act of coordinated sabotage. The attacks took place during Prinsjesdag, the state opening of parliament in The Hague and one of the biggest days in the Dutch political calendar.

Steel pipes were attached to the tracks at multiple locations across the country, disrupting rail service nationwide.

It is not yet known who was behind the attacks. On the same day, tractor tires, hay bales, and pallets were lit on fire at various locations. Some of those incidents were tied to farmer activists.

The Farmers Defence Force, responsible for recent motorway disruptions, said it was not responsible but that “wild actions” by individual farmers had been expected on budget day.

The two suspects are the first to be arrested in the case.