Dutch terror suspects ‘wanted to kill Barroso’

15 November 2004

AMSTERDAM — Three suspected Islamic extremists living in the Netherlands were allegedly involved in planning an attack in June on the then Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso, it has been reported.

Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias said the murder was planned to occur before the Euro 2004 soccer championships, but police foiled the attack. Barroso — the incoming European Commission President — had also been advised against leaving his hotel to thwart the threatened murder.

According to the Portuguese newspaper, the trio were driving around in the car of Mohammed B., the man arrested for the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh earlier this month. The three suspects are allegedly linked to the terror group, Hofstadgroep, news service NOS reported.

Seven people detained in The Hague, Amsterdam and Amersfoort last week are also allegedly part of the terror group. The two suspects arrested in The Hague were allegedly planning to murder anti-Islamic MPs Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Interior Minister Johan Remkes told the Dutch Parliament last week that the intelligence service AIVD informed the Portuguese authorities in June that three suspects had travelled to Portugal prior to the start Euro 2004.

Based on that tip the trio were arrested, but the Portuguese authorities deported the suspects a short time later due to a lack of evidence top charge them with a serious offence.

Meanwhile, Democrat D66 leader Boris Dittrich has accused Amsterdam police of abandoning Van Gogh in its investigations into the threat posed against him.

Dittrich was reacting to revelations that free daily newspaper Metro received several emails in which Van Gogh was threatened with death in April this year.

But Amsterdam police decided against taking any action, RTL News reported Monday. The Metro handed the emails over to police and Dittrich said he was confounded by the turn of events.

In reaction, the Amsterdam police unit said it was insulted by the insinuations that the threats against Van Gogh had not been investigated.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news