One of three suspects held in Dutch counter-terrorism raids has already been convicted of preparing a jihadist attack in Belgium, court records have shown.
Police special units detained the 19-year-old at his home in Eindhoven, southern Netherlands, in the early hours of July 29, 2026. Two minors were arrested at the same time in Rotterdam and in Alkmaar, northwest of Amsterdam.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirmed the operation formed part of a continuing terrorism investigation but declined to specify the offences involved. It said there was no indication of a link to the attack on Berlin’s Pride parade on July 25, 2026.
A 2024 ruling by the Rotterdam district court found the suspect, then 16, guilty of preparing a terrorist attack and of participating in Islamic State (ISIS). Members of an online group had discussed possible targets, the division of roles and the form the attack would take, according to the judgment.
The court said the intervention of Belgian and Dutch police may have spared society considerable suffering. The suspect had also tried to buy weapons through the messaging service Telegram.
Eindhovens Dagblad reported that nightclubs and police stations in Belgium were among the targets discussed. A man from Deventer and a Belgian teenager were arrested in the same 2023 investigation.
He received 472 days of juvenile detention, of which 360 were suspended, leaving only the 112 days already spent in pre-trial custody. The court added the maximum community service order of 200 hours and a two-year probation period.
During that probation he wore an electronic tag, was barred from most Dutch airports and was not permitted to leave the country.
Psychologists who examined him found no psychiatric disorder and rated the risk of reoffending as moderate. Other assessors disagreed, describing him as still holding extremist views and as adrift.
Probation reports painted a contradictory picture. He told officials he wanted to abandon violent ideology and was ambitious at school, while online he described everyone outside ISIS as the enemy.
The three suspects were due to appear before an examining magistrate on July 31, 2026.
