ISIS supporters arrested in the Netherlands for planning attack

A 16-year-old ISIS supporter has been arrested in the Dutch city of Eindhoven on suspicion of contacting men linked to ISIS who were planning to carry out an attack. Last Tuesday, a 19-year-old man was also arrested in Deventer on the same suspicion. The Public Prosecution Office confirmed to the Eindhoven daily newspaper that the suspect had been arrested at his home in early May and that he was still in custody.

According to the spokesperson of the Public Prosecution Office, the two suspects have been in contact with each other and are involved in the same investigation. The 16-year-old ISIS supporter M. allegedly contacted the man from Deventer via Telegram. He also spoke with a suspect from Belgium about planning attacks in Belgium. The Eindhoven daily writes that the spokesman had confirmed that there had been “serious conversations,” but that M. had not yet had any physical contact with the other suspect, nor had he purchased any objects. Prosecutors suspect him of preparing a terrorist crime.

On the same day that the boy from Eindhoven was arrested by Dutch police, a major operation took place in Belgium in which seven suspects were arrested in different parts of Flanders. According to the Belgian judiciary, the group, most of whose members have a Chechen background, had become radicalized in a short period of time. M. is said to have been in contact with one of these Belgians. The investigation is still ongoing and the other suspect from Deventer will be brought before the court on June 9. On 17 May, the judge ruled that M. must remain in his cell for at least another 30 days.

As operations against ISIS-linked suspects continued in European countries, a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 8. Before the meeting of the 80-member coalition began, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the fight to defeat ISIS was not yet done.