Family of Somalis arrested in Netherlands protest innocence

Dec 26, 2010, 12:07 GMT

The Hague/Rotterdam - Relatives of 12 Somali men arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack protested their innocence to the media on Sunday.

The men had 'nothing to do with terrorism' the brother of one of the men told the daily De Telegraaf.

The arrests took place on Christmas Eve in the port city of Rotterdam after the Dutch secret service, AIVD, said it had concrete evidence of planned attacks.

It had proof that a 'number of Somalis were planning to carry out an attack in the Netherlands in the near future,' the AIVD said according to the public prosecutor disclosure on Saturday.

The public prosecutor is due to announce on Monday what next happens to the men, all aged between 19 and 48.

Police searched an internet cafe, four flats and two hotel rooms in Friday's raids, confiscating 11 computers - but failed to find any explosives or weapons. The target of the planned attacks also remained unclear, prosecutors said.

'We're normal, hard-working people. It must be a big misunderstanding,' a man named Nuur told reporters in Rotterdam. According to De Telegraaf his brother Osman M F is among those arrested. He is reportedly the owner of the internet cafe.

According to Nuur, who has lived legally in the Netherlands for 12 years, his brother arrived in the country from Germany six years ago. He had German citizenship, he said.

Dutch authorities did not confirm the report.

Several of the Somali suspects had acquired Dutch citizenship, a police spokesman said Saturday. Six of them had lived in Rotterdam, five had no fixed address and one had travelled to the Netherlands from Denmark.