Funding boost for Dutch terror fight

13 December 2004

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Cabinet is poised to allocate an extra EUR 125 to 135 million to combat terrorism in the Netherlands, Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm has said.

Ministers will make a final decision about the funding later this week, but a large proportion has been allocated to the Dutch intelligence service AIVD.

Speaking on the television programme Buitenhof on Sunday, Zalm said the AIVD will use the money to employ about 500 more officers to intensify the nation’s security against the threat of terrorism.

The rest of the money is earmarked for the protection of threatened public figures and infrastructure, police and an expansion in jail cell capacity.

The proposal was presented to the cabinet by Minister Zalm, Interior Minister Johan Remkes and Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and a decision is expected at the cabinet’s weekly meeting on Friday.

The government announced soon after the 2 November of filmmaker Theo van Gogh that the AIVD, police and judicial authorities would receive more funding. Only the extent of the funding was uncertain.

The injection of funds is designed to intensify the surveillance and investigation of terrorist suspects. The AIVD currently has an estimated 150 suspected Islamic extremists under constant surveillance.

Subject: Dutch news