Last night the police suddenly turned blue at the Fokkingeslag in the Emmer district of Angelslo. A suspicious package under a car shook up the neighborhood.
There is a weighted flower pot on a black car on the street corner. Probably to keep the tailgate closed. According to several local residents, a package with unknown contents under this car caused a restless night.
The owner of the car was not at home on Wednesday morning or was unable to open the door. According to neighbors, the car has been standing still in the parking bay for several weeks.
No bomb
Residents of one of the three houses that were quickly evacuated want to speak anonymously about their perilous night. “Look, our car is next to his. It also went into the air. Fortunately, the police were able to tell us around 4 o’clock this morning that it was not a bomb or explosives. Then we went to bed to sleep in this morning,” says the resident of one of the terraced houses.
He doesn’t have much more information. He didn’t see the package right in front of his door. “The police say as much to us as they say to you, I think.”
He and his wife were two of four people evacuated from the block. “The police apparently banged on our door for a while, but we slept through it. Then they asked the neighbor for our phone number and called us up around 2 am. We had to leave the house immediately.”
Quite an experience
The neighbors won’t have to brave the nighttime freezing cold for long. They get a ringside seat in a heated police van. “Then we saw the entire rataplan drive into the street. Police, army and I don’t know what else. That was quite an experience. Fortunately, the neighbor across the street was also awake and we could have coffee there. This morning we slept in a bit.”
It turns out they aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood who value their night’s sleep. The neighbors across the street slept through the spectacle in the street and only read the news close to home this morning during breakfast. They are somewhat surprised that they did not receive a wake-up call from officers if the situation was so alarming. “We sleep with our three children almost as close to the car as the people who have been removed from their home. We heard some stomping around but saw no reason to get out of the warm bed,” says the lady in question.
‘An object’
The police report that there was a report of the suspicious package under the car just before midnight on Tuesday. It was quickly decided to scale up to a so-called GRIP 1 situation, where different emergency services can work together better.
The Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service (EOD) went to Angelslo in full force and discovered that there was no explosive material. The police do not want to say what was found and talk about an ‘object’.
Officers were also present in the street on Tuesday morning looking for eyewitnesses and camera images.