Netherlands: Explosive increase in illegal hand grenades
Hand grenades are becoming an increasingly popular in rising gangland violence in the Netherlands and the number of incidents involving the explosives has shot up in the past two years.
Published: August 28, 2019, 6:51 am
Violence with illegal hand grenades in the Netherlands is growing explosively. There are an increasing number of such incidents in the Netherlands with illegal hand grenades.
More incidents have been registered in the past year and a half than in the complete ten years before. Researchers call the trend worrying and do not expect it to decline soon. And Amsterdam has not been spared the scourge that poses a threat to its inhabitants.
Broadcaster RTL Nieuws reported on Tuesday that 23 incidents involving hand grenades were registered in the first four months of this year, compared with 42 in 2018 as a whole and just a handful of cases in the previous years.
In total, researchers from the University of Leiden have registered 117 cases in the past 11 years.
In most of the cases the grenade was left outside a cafe, club, shop or private home, or attached to the door handle.
In 21 cases people were directly attacked or threatened with a grenade, resulting in nine people being injured, several seriously. Judges in the Dutch capital said earlier this month that people convicted of crimes involving explosives would face tougher sentences.
According to researcher and criminologist Marieke Liem the Netherlands is facing rising danger. “For example, we see a huge increase in hand grenade violence in Sweden, and there were deaths. Including bystanders. If the trend continues, you could expect that there will also be fatal casualties here.”
The researchers did not want to speculate about the reason for the explosive increase, possibly because of the fact that it may reflect on immigrants, a sensitive topic. According to them, the registration of such incidents by the police also leaves something to be desired, so that little is known about the motives.
It is a headache for far-left Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who is responsible for public order and security. According to the municipality, the problems have taken on a structural character. “These incidents have a major impact on the affected entrepreneurs, but also pose a major danger to local residents and passers-by.”
There are suspicions that hand grenades are regularly used as a means of extortion and intimidation. No fewer than two thirds of the incidents targeted a company. For example, grenades were found at several catering establishments, clubs and stores. As a result, such places were closed for weeks by order of the municipality, which led to a number of bankruptcies.
Temporary cameras have been put up and buildings closed. By doing so, Amsterdam hopes to prevent new incidents. Given the fact that closure led to bankruptcies among victims, the latter measure is controversial however. The municipality says it is examining the situation per incident. Additional measures are being investigated with the police, the Public Prosecution Service and the Tax Authorities, the city said.
The incidents that Liem and co-investigator Katharina Krüsselmann investigated took place in 45 different municipalities throughout the country, from Zwolle to Vianen. But especially in Amsterdam, the use of illegal hand grenades is on the rise. Almost a third of all incidents were in the capital.
Earlier this month, the Amsterdam court decided to harshly penalize criminals who are caught for placing explosives in order to send a signal. If you leave a grenade on the street in Amsterdam, a possible 18-month prison sentence will be imposed, for which it is 6 months in the rest of the country.
However, perpetrators must be found for this. And that turns out to be difficult with these incidents. Only one in five incidents in 2018 was resolved.
Sweden’s national police unit tasked with protection against bombs in Malmö, has advised inhabitants to beware of unexploded hand grenades which are believed to be spread throughout the city, reported news agency TT.
The Nordic country has experienced a sharp rise in explosions in recent years, predominantly related to conflicts between warring criminal gangs. The use of explosives in Sweden is currently at a level that is unique in the world for a state not at war, according to police.
In addition, fatal shootings per capita in Sweden are now considerably higher than the European average. The country also has one of the smallest police forces per capita in the EU.
Some 50 explosions were reported in the first three months of 2019, which is an average of more than one every other day. Over the same period in 2018, a record number of more than three blasts were registered per week.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.

Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.

Brits Forced to Live in Darkness and Cold
Food prices are rising at a furious pace, fastest in Scotland in almost half a century. At the same time, energy prices are at record highs. People are forced to choose between freezing or going hungry, and a majority of Scots are forced to live in cold and darkness to cope with bills. Old generations' tricks for saving and keeping warm are returning. Nevertheless, it is feared that 10,000 Brits will die of cold homes this winter. We present the Swedish Public Health Agency's guidelines on indoor temperature. Governments in Europe are introducing rationing and monitoring of food purchases. Net-zero emissions are a lie that, in practice, de-industrializes the West and dramatically lowers our standard of living.

Thousands of Flemish farmers block roads in Brussels against nitrogen policy
BrusselsMore than 2500 farmers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region gathered at Brussels' central Arts-Loi street and blocked roads with tractors toward Brussels to protest the regional government's plan to limit nitrogen emissions.

Orban: EU energy sanctions costing citizens billions
BudapestHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned that some western states could soon send troops to Ukraine. He also criticized the fact that the EU sanctions against Russia had cost Hungarian taxpayers tens of billions of euros.

Italy: New leader of the Social Democrats is one of Soros’ ‘preferred politicians’
RomeDuring the election campaign, Elly Schlein presented herself as the standard-bearer of the poorest. However, her background and previous work raise doubts about her honesty.

UK greenhouses shut down due to high energy costs
LondonIn Great Britain, a particularly depressing facet of the crisis is now showing its first contours - and thus anticipating what is likely to happen in other European countries in the near future: because of the exploding energy prices, agriculture is being strangled and fresh produce has to be rationed.

Lisbon opens borders to all Portuguese speakers
LisbonNot only the German and Italian governments keep opening new paths for immigration. Portugal, too, has opened a Pandora's box and is paving the way for possibly millions of non-European immigrants to the EU – something which is not mentioned by the mainstream media.

Illegal immigration to Italy has reached its highest level ever
RomeIn Italy, despite the overwhelming right-wing electoral success in September, there is still nothing to be seen of the promised asylum turnaround – on the contrary. Giorgia Meloni has been in office for five months, but the arrivals of migrants in Italy have doubled compared to the previous year.

Dismantling diplomacy with ‘feminist foreign policy’
BudapestGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to counter German security issues abroad with feminist politics. Gender training, LGBTQ events and quotas are now part of their new guidelines, which are intended to bring about "cultural change". The German ambassador to Hungary, Julia Gross, provided an embarrassing example.

Germans demand investigation of Nord Stream sabotage
BerlinAfter the sensational revelations by US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh about the perpetrators of the Nord Stream attacks on September 26, 2022, the German government has remained silent. It does not want to comment on Hersh's research results, according to which the pipelines were blown up by Americans and Norwegians.