In 2024, the number of attacks carried out with explosives in the Netherlands soared. There were no less than 1,130 in just one year, leading to over 500 arrests, reports the NOS.
This is a fivefold increase from 2021, when these attacks occurred 212 times. With numbers like these, the government decided to set up a national task force, the “Strategic Offensive Against Explosions.”
“A social trend”
Explosions in the Netherlands are not just increasing in number — they’re changing in nature, too.
According to Jos van der Stap, manager of the national police’s “High Impact Crime” program, more than half of the incidents have no connection with criminal circles.
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Rather, many attacks are carried out by regular citizens, often to handle personal feuds related to relationships or work, with the goal of revenge or intimidation.
The Tarwekamp explosion
That was the case for the infamous Tarwekamp incident, the explosion that last December caused a building in the Hague to collapse, killing six people.
The investigation revealed that the explosion was not related to crime or terrorism, but about a relationship.
“It seems to be a social trend to settle disputes with an attack”, van der Stap tells the NOS.
The case of Vlaardingen’s plumber
Another extreme example of this streak of explosions in the Netherlands was recorded in Vlaardingen, where one man, a plumber called Ron van Uffelen (45), was targeted 27 times in 14 months.
The last incident in the series of attacks on the man’s home, business premises, and cars happened last August 14, two days after the man’s passing.
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According to van Uffelen’s wife, his death was indirectly caused by the attacks, as the stress worsened his heart problems, writes the NOS.
So far, investigations into the Vlaardingen explosions have led to over 30 arrests, but the motive behind the plumber’s persecution is still a mystery.
Why are there so many explosions?
Several Dutch politicians have blamed the problem on the accessibility of the explosives used for these attacks, including heavy fireworks such as cobras, which are often bought online for a few euros despite being illegal.
As such, they have periodically called for fireworks bans, or for re-classifying the heavier fireworks under the Weapons Act or the Firearms Act.
However, experts are looking at it from a sociological angle, too. While explosives are also accessible in other parts of Europe, “the large number of explosions is a problem mainly in the Netherlands,” criminologist Katharina Krüsselmann tells the NOS.
Experts blame this on the Dutch “fireworks culture,” as van der Stap called it: illegal fireworks are too socially accepted in the Netherlands.
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Wondering why that is? Well, we might get an answer soon. Researchers at Erasmus University in Rotterdam as currently studying this worrisome Dutch trend, the Rotterdam mayor tells the NOS.
“The power of a hand grenade”
The explosions are usually carried out by setting off heavy illegal fireworks like Cobras, which have “the power of a hand grenade” and can be “life-threatening”, van der Stap tells the NOS.
Even worse, the explosive powder contained in these heavy fireworks is sometimes extracted to fabricate homemade explosives.
The main ingredient is usually flash powder, a material so explosive and inflammable that even modest amounts can cause enormous bangs.
“We as professionals are terrified of flash powder,” an explosives expert tells Het Parool.
Who is behind the explosions?
The explosions usually involve three people: an executor, an intermediary, and a client, explains the NOS.
Since the executors are often caught, we know quite a bit about them: they tend to be young men, aged around 23, living in vulnerable neighbourhoods, and they’ve had previous contact with the police.
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Often, they don’t know who the final client is or how to procure or use the explosion’s materials — all they do is carry out orders from their intermediaries for a few hundred euros.
This, unfortunately, adds tragedy to the tragedy, as for the case of the Amsterdam 17-year-old who, according to Het Parool, was found “bloodied and only half conscious in the bushes” after mishandling the explosives he was given.
Why can’t the police stop the explosions?
So, if it’s so easy to catch the executors of these explosions, why can’t the police stop them altogether?
Well, it’s not that simple. For starters, the non-crime nature of many of the attacks makes it hard to predict the next strikes, and the intermediary system makes measures like adding cameras or closing buildings useless.
Hier de explosies in geluid van onze voordeur camera.
— Sabberdijosia (@SabberDiJosia) December 7, 2024
Eerst twee zachtere knallen en daarna de grote.#tarwekamp #explosies #Mariahoeve pic.twitter.com/FmgUXmBmVj
Deterring potential executors is also difficult. According to criminologist Katharina Krüsselmann, heavier punishments will not do the trick.
“The young people who are now hired through an intermediary to place an explosive will not refuse an assignment if it carries a heavier punishment,” Krüsselmann tells the NOS.
How will the Netherlands solve its explosions problem? Tell us your opinions in the comments below.