Residents living near the Zuiderhoek shopping center in Oosterhout are very scared. There are strong indications that two men were arrested in the parking lot of the shopping center on December 1, who later caused the explosions in The Hague. At least two local residents saw two men in a van being arrested by the police on the night of Sunday, December 1. “When I heard the news on Friday, one and one equaled two.”
“The penny dropped on Friday evening,” says a local resident. Then Omroep Brabant broke the news that two of the suspects in the attack in The Hague are from Roosendaal. “I thought: these must be the same.”
On December 1, he saw how the two men, aged 23 and 29, were taken away by the police. They were in a van with fourteen jerry cans, heavy fireworks, torches, a fire extinguisher and extra clothing. A week later the explosions occurred in The Hague.
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Jerry cans were found at the site of the explosions, but no official cause is yet known. Two of the suspects are from Roosendaal and are the same age as the men who were arrested in Oosterhout on December 1.
“I’m surprised that they would have been released so quickly,” says the local resident. “I would find that really incomprehensible. First they are caught fifty meters away from my bed, and less than a week later they would have been able to finish their job.” It makes him feel unsafe. “I don’t want to blame everything on the government, but you assume that you are protected as a citizen. Now an 8-year-old boy is an orphan and a family in Greece is without a father.”
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Another neighbor also saw the arrest. “I was about to go to bed and I looked out my window. Then I saw a van in the middle of the parking lot. The engine was running and the lights were on. The two men were stopped by the police and more officers arrived.”
After ten minutes he stopped watching. “It wasn’t that exciting anymore,” he says. “But when I heard the news on Friday, I immediately knew that it must be the same men. One plus one immediately equaled two.”
A woman looking out into the parking lot also saw officers investigating that Sunday. “I was shocked and I feel scared. I don’t feel safe here now, no. There is always all kinds of things walking around here and now this.”
A 33-year-old man from Oosterhout and a 33-year-old man from Rotterdam were also arrested for the explosions in The Hague. The police in both The Hague and West Brabant do not want to comment on a possible connection between the two cases. The Public Prosecution Service does not want to say anything about this case, ‘in the interest of the investigation and because the suspects are under restrictions’.