The police shared a photo on Sunday afternoon of the man who last week stuck an explosive on a window of coffee shop Caza on the Gasthuisring in Tilburg. Witnesses were able to follow what was happening via cameras in the coffee shop and ran outside to grab the man.
In a call for witnesses, the police describe what exactly happened on the night of December 18 around a quarter past two. A few people who were in the coffee shop were able to watch on cameras exactly what the bomb maker was planning to do. They ran outside to catch him, but they couldn’t.
Three men followed him in the direction of Hart van Brabantlaan and Hazelaarstraat. There the perpetrator got into the back of a getaway car with a driver. It was ready to drive away immediately.
Many more attempts
It was the second time in a few days that coffee shop Caza was the target of an attack. On Thursday, December 14, a fireworks bomb and a jerry can were thrown at the coffee shop. Even then there was no explosion.
The failed attack on December 18 is the fifth in two years at the coffee shop. The business was closed on its own initiative after Thursday’s failed attack. During an earlier attack, last Carnival Saturday in February, an explosive device went off. A cyclist then narrowly escaped.
‘Very worrying’
After yet another incident at the coffee shop, Mayor Theo Weterings of Tilburg could not yet say whether the coffee shop should close. He wanted to wait for the police investigation.
“It is very worrying that something is going on again,” Mayor Theo Weterings of Tilburg said after the attack on Thursday. “Particularly when it comes to safety for passers-by and residents.”
Perpetrator
The man who tried to set off an explosive on Sunday is almost impossible to recognize. He has his whole face covered. “It can still be seen that the man has a dark skin color. He is dressed in a dark blue jacket from the brand ‘Under Armor’ with a hood. He left behind a plastic bag from the store called ‘SAHAN’. This is a store with branches in the Rotterdam region, one branch in Waalwijk and one in Amsterdam,” the police said.
On Carnival Saturday this year, an explosive went off at the coffee shop. A cyclist passed by and narrowly escaped.