A woman who allegedly made bombs for a gang of explosive squatters at home in Den Bosch was in court on Thursday. The OM wants her to go to jail for three years. Her boyfriend was also in the gang but died after accidentally blowing himself up.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the woman (31) was part of a group of suspects who committed explosive raids. This happened in, among others, the German town of Wachtendonk in August 2020. In total, they would have captured at least 300,000 euros.
At home in Den Bosch, she would have made packages with explosives. She kept it in a storage room of an apartment complex on Schutskampstraat. After the discovery, the situation was so dangerous that an entire residential block had to be evacuated as a precaution.
Deadly experiments
Her boyfriend was the leader of the gang. The man (29) experimented with an ATM he had purchased. That thing was in a business premises in Utrecht. There he was also practicing on September 5, 2020. But he accidentally blew himself up and died.
One of the other suspects is also from Den Bosch. It is a man (22) who would have really participated in the explosive attacks in Germany. That worked in Wachtendonk, but things went wrong in Geldern and Alpen Veen. This happened in the period from August to October 2020.
Justice wants the Bosschenaar to go to jail for five years. Six years in prison were demanded against the 23-year-old main suspect from Utrecht.
Camera and transmitter
The police tracked down the gang after a tip from the German authorities. They had noticed that ATMs were being ordered by someone in Utrecht. The machines were secretly equipped with a transmitter and camera and the police sat on top of it.
For months, the detectives got more and more insight into what the gang was doing. For example, it was seen and heard that they were busy with preliminary reconnaissance and preparing fast getaway cars. That’s how the bomb maker came into the picture. A raid followed in October 2020 and the explosives were discovered.
Fatal test drive
One of the six suspects, a 25-year-old man from Utrecht, was previously in the news because he took a test drive in his car in December 2020 at 265 kilometers per hour. He was probably practicing for flight after an explosion, but he got a flat tire and collided with a woman’s car near Nieuwegein who had nothing to do with it. The victim died instantly.
The man has already received four years and is now at risk of going to jail for even longer. The Public Prosecution Service speaks of ‘reprehensible’ behavior because they continued after the fatal accidents.
The criminal case will continue next week with the pleas and the sentence against the sixth suspect. It is unknown when the court in Utrecht will rule.
READ ALSO:
Bombs for explosive attacks were made in Den Bosch