In Rotterdam, an apartment complex was shot at in the same street where an explosive went off yesterday. The shooting took place around 06:00 in the Van Speykstraat, in the Oude Westen district. No one was injured.
At least eighteen bullet holes can be seen in the windows on the first three floors, writes broadcaster Rijnmond. Police also found several bullet casings. No one has been arrested yet.
An explosive also exploded in a porch of another apartment complex in Van Speykstraat last night. The portico was severely damaged. Residents of surrounding streets were startled awake by the loud blow. Police are investigating whether there is a connection between the two incidents.
“Yesterday it was next door, that was a bomb attack. Today it happens to be my porch that they shot at,” says a shocked resident. He is amazed. because according to him, the Van Speykstraat is normally a quiet neighborhood. “But now they’ve counted 26 or 27 rounds. That’s quite a lot.”
Many explosions in Rotterdam
Two explosives also exploded in the Rotterdam district of Crooswijk last week. The entire region has been ravaged by explosions at homes in recent months. According to Rijnmond, at least fifty explosives went off in the first four months of the year. That is already more than in all of 2022.
It is suspected that the incidents in Rotterdam are related to drug trafficking. Mayor Aboutaleb told NOS last month that the recent wave of violence has to do with the successful detection of drugs in the port. “About 60 percent of the cocaine in the port is intercepted. Then criminals start blaming each other.”
Family members are often the target, says Aboutaleb: “What you see now is that they are trying to catch someone by intimidating a grandfather, grandmother, sister or aunt with attacks. That is extremely bad and dangerous.”
Rotterdam is trying to get the violence under control with extra police surveillance, camera surveillance and a special detective team.
- Another explosion in the Rotterdam district of Crooswijk
- Explosion in portico in Rotterdam, homes evacuated
- Rotterdam sighs under attacks: ‘If my son is not at home, I sleep with my neighbor’
- Large increase in the number of explosions in Rotterdam, already 18 attacks this month
- Young people in Rotterdam increasingly vulnerable to criminal recruiters
