Anti-terror raid in The Hague

October 14, 2005

Gunshots were heard in The Hague on Friday morning during anti-terror raids by security officials, Dutch media reported. This was later explained by Dutch minister of justice Donner as being explosives used against an enforced door to gain entrance to one of the locations identified as being used by the suspects.

The Dutch news agency ANP reported that at least one of seven arrests by security officials on Friday was made in The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government, and at least one of the other arrests was made in Amsterdam. Other locations where searches were being preformed include Almere. One of the arrested people is Samir A., who was previously arrested for being involved with terrorism.

While the raids where done the Binnenhof, the part of The Hauge with the primary buildings of the Dutch government, were sealed from outside because of security concerns.

In the afternoon a press conference explained the reason for the raids: The suspects were trying to gain access to explosives and weapons to target the AIVD (Dutch intelligence agency) building and certain Dutch politicians.