The municipality of Rotterdam and the police are increasing security in places where explosions have recently taken place. A spokesperson for the municipality confirms this, although it does not want to say what the new safety measures exactly entail.
Council member Ingrid Coenradie of Liveable Rotterdam says that extra police will be deployed from today. “That is what we are going to do visibly differently this coming night. The police investigation team has been strengthened. We are going to do more than we already did.” She also argues for physical posts at the beginning and end of the long Crooswijkseweg, in order to improve supervision.
Coenradie also calls on residents to come forward if they know more. “Parents, neighbors and family should talk more with the municipality and the police, because there are enough people who know that minors hang out on the street at night. Look at each other, ask: ‘why weren’t you there last night?’.”
Four people arrested
Rotterdam has been rumbling for ages, with about fifty finds of explosives and nocturnal explosions this year, more than in the whole of 2022. In the past week, it was even a hit every day, with explosions and shooting incidents on the Crooswijkseweg in North Rotterdam and the Van Speykstraat in the Old West. Extra safety measures have already been taken in connection with the incidents and the new measures are therefore added.
Four people have now been arrested. This morning, the police announced that a 21-year-old suspect has been detained because of an explosion last night in Rotterdam-Feijenoord. A 32-year-old man was already arrested on Wednesday evening and later that night two boys aged 14 and 15 were caught red-handed when they placed a fire bomb.
It is not yet known where the nightly explosives come from, but Mayor Aboutaleb said earlier that there is a suspicion that there is a connection with the drug trade. Many drugs would be intercepted in the port of Rotterdam, resulting in tensions among criminals.
- Another explosion at the Crooswijkseweg in Rotterdam
- Boys aged 14 and 15 caught with fire bomb in Rotterdam
- ‘Young explosives installers often have no idea what they are doing and for whom’
