One of the suspects in the attacks on Polish supermarkets in late 2020 and early last year has been released. From March 7, Amsterdammer Antonio N. (27) may await the substantive handling of his criminal case in freedom. The court in Alkmaar determined this on Tuesday. N. would have acted as a driver at attacks in Heeswijk-Dinther and Beverwijk.
N.’s provisional release is subject to strict conditions. For example, he is given shelter at an organization that offers accommodation to ex-prisoners, where he has to cooperate in treatment. He also has a duty to report, he is not allowed to use drugs and he is not allowed to have contact with co-defendants in the case.
If he does not comply with the conditions, he has to go back to jail. The fact that he is released is very much against the will of the Public Prosecution Service, which emphasized on Monday that the Amsterdammer is associated “with very serious crimes”. His lawyer countered that while he was “involved in very nasty facts, it appeared from both his own statements and telephone messages that he was only asked to get people from A to B.”
‘Recruted as a young boy’
According to his lawyer, he was recruited as a young boy for something in which there seems to be much greater interests in the background. She said Monday that it seems that the attacks on Polish supermarkets can be traced back to a conflict between two different parties “who operate such shops and do not give each other the light in the eyes”.
She drew on information from the Criminal Intelligence Team (TCI), the secret service of the investigation, which ended up in the criminal file and which would be supported by DNA traces found on parts of explosives.
In total, the Public Prosecution Service has nine suspects for the series of attacks and attempts to do so. It is not yet clear when the criminal proceedings will serve substantively.