Two explosions at houses in Den Bosch, unmissable camera security, area bans and links to serious crime. The Maaspoort residential area in Bossche has been completely turned upside down for a week. An overview of what has happened so far.
In the dead of Tuesday night, July 26, an explosion shakes houses on the Goedenrade in Den Bosch. Windows shatter, a front door bursts at the seams and roof tiles fly meters high into the air. The damage to one house is enormous. Seeing the debris, it seems a miracle that no one was injured. The family that lives there is housed elsewhere.
Local residents say that someone has detonated something near the house. But also that the perpetrator must have made a mistake. A ‘normal family’ with two young children would live in the house. No one believes they were the target. Hours later, the police also say that it is a mistaken attack.
Showy camera columns
Police do not say which house is likely to be the target. But according to reliable sources that Omroep Brabant speaks to, investigative services are looking emphatically at the house where the multiple-convicted Gracia K. lives. Recently she has a relationship with the well-known criminal Klaas Otto. Her house is hundreds of meters away and has the same number as the heavily damaged house on Goedenrade. Both buildings are parallel to the main Maaspoortweg.
To restore calm in the neighbourhood, the municipality of Den Bosch decided to install flashy camera columns. One near the house on the Goedenrade. And one at the house of Gracia K. on the Stapelen. This should deter a perpetrator from coming back.
Two area bans
It will become clear in the night from Saturday 30 to Sunday 31 July that this does not have the desired effect. It’s hit again. This time at the house where Gracia K. lives. Someone explodes something. The damage is much less extensive and no one is injured. But the fear is palpable in the neighbourhood.
The people behind the attack(s) are serious and they are not afraid of security measures. Signal for mayor Jack Mikkers to intervene. On Sunday 31 July, he spoke about feelings of disruption, fear and unrest in the neighborhood and decided to lock the house on the Stapelen for a month. The resident and his partner are no longer allowed in for the time being.
Already a target
These are most likely Gracia K. and Klaas Otto. Both are known to the police and the judiciary. For example, Otto is the infamous founder of motorcycle club No Surrender. The court sentenced him several times to years in prison for money laundering, extortion, aggravated assault and leading a criminal organization. Gracia K. received heavy community service in the past because of a violent pub quarrel and money laundering.
It is therefore not surprising that the attention of the detective is focused on the house on the Stapelen and the residents. It is also the second time that this house has been the target of an attack. In 2017, someone fired more than ten bullets into this house surrounded by camera balls. The window facing the street was completely riddled. The police have never been able to find out who is behind this.
Criminal environment
After that shooting in 2017, then mayor Ton Rombouts decided that Faysal L. was not allowed to come near the house for three months. He was Gracia K’s husband at the time. Both were sleeping in the house at the time and were unharmed. The police thought he was the intended target and that a conflict in the criminal environment was the reason for the extreme violence. L. has been convicted of money laundering and illegal possession of weapons.
L. claimed during a lawsuit about that restraining order that not he, but his mother-in-law would be the target. This is the mother of Gracia K. According to local residents, she was sleeping in the house on the Stapelen last Saturday night, when something exploded. Gracia K. herself and Klaas Otto were on vacation at the time and therefore not at home. Against it Brabants Dagblad Gracia’s mother said firmly on Sunday that Otto had nothing to do with it. Who or what, she kept to herself.
Police investigation
There is therefore plenty of unrest in the Maaspoort district. But who is behind the explosions, who is the target and what the reason for the attacks is: these are all unanswered questions, which the police and the judiciary hope to find out.
Waiting for privacy settings…