Dutch Police Detain 20-Year-Old Over Alleged Synagogue Attack Plot

Dutch police have arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of helping plan a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Heemstede, near Haarlem, in March. Prosecutors said he was detained on June 9 and is suspected of planning arson or an attack as part of a group and with a terrorist intent.

A judge in Amsterdam ruled last Friday that his detention would be extended by 14 more days. Police and prosecutors believe the synagogue was a target and that officers helped prevent the attack.

His arrest followed earlier detentions connected to the same site. Two Amsterdam boys, aged 14 and 17, were arrested near the synagogue on the night of March 19 to 20 after fireworks were found nearby, and a 18-year-old boy from Amsterdam was arrested a week later. Authorities say the case is part of a broader wave of attacks on Jewish sites in the Netherlands last spring.

Those attacks included arson at a synagogue in Rotterdam and explosions outside a Jewish school and an office complex in Amsterdam. Four young suspects admitted carrying out the Rotterdam attack, but told the court they did not know the building was a synagogue. Prosecutors say it was a deliberate act of terrorism.