Teen terror suspects sought weapons before arrest, prosecutors say

Four teenagers arrested this summer on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack were trying to get weapons in late July, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) told a pre-trial hearing today. All four will stay in custody for now.

Three of the suspects, aged 16 to 19 and from Rotterdam, Eindhoven and De Rijp, were arrested in late July by heavily armed police teams. A fourth suspect, 18, from Kesteren, was arrested in early August. The OM says all four are strongly influenced by violent jihadist ideology and suspects them of wanting to join the terrorist organisation IS.

According to the OM, the suspects tried several routes to get weapons. One of them asked on Signal about automatic weapons and pistols, and he also contacted an arms dealer via WhatsApp. The OM says the suspects admire British Islamist Mohammed Mizanur Rahman and calls it worrying that they look up to him.

That suspect passed the arms dealer's contact to the 19-year-old from Eindhoven, who answered: "Brother, are you stupid?" The OM says the message was meant to make clear the matter should not be discussed on Snapchat. The Eindhoven suspect's defence lawyer disputes this and says it was sent because he wanted nothing to do with it.

The police investigation is not finished. That is said to be partly because one suspect does not want to give the access code to his phone. The case is expected to be heard on its merits in the first part of next year.