Four Dutch people were arrested at the border last week, suspected of carrying out an explosive raid in Germany. Dye on their clothes betrayed them.
An image of the damage caused by an explosion in a shopping center in Mülheim, Germany (photo: Essen police)
Injury
The men are suspected by the German authorities of blowing up an ATM in Mülheim, between Duisburg and Essen, last Friday morning. Considerable damage was caused. This is reported by the NOS on Wednesday.
Pigment
The suspects appear to have been arrested later that day during a check on the A12 near Babberich. In their car, the Marechaussee found cash with a dye on it. A substance that is often used to disable money that has been stolen during explosive raids.
The men also had colored spots on their hands and on their clothing. One of them was so seriously injured that he was taken to a hospital.
A Dutch-German investigation team has now linked the men to the explosive raid in Mülheim on the night of February 10, around 4:00 am.
The police in Essen report that a burning car was also found in the vicinity of the shopping center fifteen minutes after the explosion. It is not clear whether a connection has been established with this.
Many explosive attacks in Germany are carried out by perpetrators from the Netherlands. Last year there were 496. One hundred more than the year before. Most take place in the federal states that border the Netherlands. Last year, 15 explosions took place in the Netherlands.
At the beginning of February, the Dutch and German police were still successful in arresting nine suspected explosive squatters.
