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Terror Suspects Arrested

nda/dpa/afp/apMarch 13, 2009

Dutch police on Thursday arrested seven terrorist suspects on charges of planning a series of bomb attacks on buildings in and around Amsterdam.

https://p.dw.com/p/HBC3
Dutch police give directions to shoppers after sealing off a major shopping street in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday March 12, 2009.
Police closed down major commercial and shopping areas in Amsterdam during the searchImage: ap

The suspects, detained Thursday, were six men and a woman, aged 19 to 64 and were identified as Dutch citizens of Moroccan heritage, Dutch radio reported. One was a relative of a suspect in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people.

The suspects' names have not been released.

Police chief Bernard Welten said investigators received an anonymous phone tip-off Wednesday from an informant on an unregistered cell phone in Brussels about the attack plans.

The informant named three men as being involved in the plot as well as the attack targets, which included a large furniture store and an electronics market, Welten said.

The goal was to carry out bombings in stores and kill as many people as possible, the report said.

Police searching for explosives went through businesses near Amsterdam's soccer stadium Thursday morning and indefinitely closed down several stores and a concert hall. It was not clear if explosives were found, the report said.

The all-out search included several homes in Amsterdam. Parallel actions were carried out in the Belgian capital, Brussels, the report said.

A police statement Friday said house searches and interrogations did not provide “any information that leads us to believe there is still a serious threat at this moment.”