Two Dutchmen were arrested in Mechelen on Thursday night. The Belgian judiciary reports that the two probably wanted to commit an attack on a building in the city. Earlier this week, a 19-year-old Dutchman was arrested in the Netherlands in connection with an attack on a house in the Bethaniënstraat in Mechelen. A firebomb exploded there last Thursday. The Gazet van Antwerpen writes that five suspects have been arrested around the threat in Mechelen.
‘Thief’
A car was set on fire in Kalverenstraat and on Saturday night a message was left on the shutters of homes in the streets: with the texts ‘thief’ ‘whore’.
Over the past few nights, several cars with Dutch license plates have been registered in Mechelen by cameras that, according to the Belgian judiciary, can be linked to the incidents.
Extracts
Today (Saturday) the Public Prosecution Service confirmed that a suspicious vehicle with a Dutch number plate was stopped in Mechelen in the night from Thursday to Friday. The two Dutchmen aged 19 and 20 were in it. They had a balaclava, a jerry can, spray paint cans, several telephones, and some banners with inscriptions. According to the Belgian judiciary, the texts can be blamed on previous attacks in Mechelen.
Belgian media write that the target in Mechelen is a certain family. A man allegedly defrauded several drug criminals by collecting bail for cocaine withdrawals at the port that he then failed to carry out.
