Dutch justice mulls next move on Somali terror suspects

Dec 27, 2010, 22:07 GMT

Amsterdam - Dutch justice authorities were Monday mulling their next move after the weekend arrest of 12 Somali men on terrorism suspicions, amid criticism of the country's secret service after five of the men were quickly released.

Reports said the remaining seven suspects might appear before an arraigning judge later Monday or on Tuesday.

The 12 Somali men aged between 19 and 48 years were arrested on Christmas Eve in a sweep by the anti-terror police unit DSI in the port city of Rotterdam after the secret service AIVD said it had concrete evidence of planned attacks.

Six of the suspects had Dutch citizenship and others had residence permits, including two permits issued in Denmark, police said.

The police searched an internet cafe, four flats and two hotel rooms, while seizing 11 computers. But they found no explosives or weapons, and the target of the planned attacks remained unclear, prosecutors conceded.

Relatives and friends of the 12 detainees had protested their innocence in remarks to the media.

On Sunday, five of the suspects were released, with prosecutors saying the questioning had turned up 'no evidence for an involvement in terrorist activities.'

Prosecutors said it would be determined later Monday whether the body of evidence was sufficient to call the seven before an arraigning judge.

Lawyers Monday criticised the AIVD and demanded an independent investigation.

'There can be no other explanation except for a mistake on the part of the AIVD that the suspects had to be released again so quickly,' lawyer Michael Ruperti, who is representing two of the Somalis, told reporters.

Also expressing its concern about the developments was the Dutch- Somali foundation Nedsom.

'This is another blow, strengthening the stigma which is attached to our community,' Nedsom official Guled Yusuf Ahmed said. Somalis were quickly 'associated with piracy and jihadism,' he said.

But prosecutors defended the Christmas Eve sweep, saying it was 'primarily aimed at preempting a possible attack.'

Meanwhile de Volkskrant newspaper cited sources in the Netherlands, Kenya and Somalia as saying that several of those detained were linked to the militant Islamic group Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

One of the 12 arrested was related to Al-Shabaab commander Mohammed Garmashago, who is believed to be connected to the al-Qaeda network, the newspaper reported.

Some 27,000 Somalis live in the Netherlands, with the share of welfare recipients and jobless above the national average.