A Dutch teen was arrested in Antwerp after he was spotted carrying a jerry can of petrol and fireworks on De Keyserlei near Antwerp's railway station in the city centre on Monday night.
Antwerp police arrested the Dutch 16-year-old at around 01:00 at night after spotting him walking alone with a jerry can of petrol and fireworks on De Keyserlei. The police said that this was "obviously suspicious". The suspect may have been planning to carry out an attack.
The suspect has been detained for questioning. His plans remain unclear as investigations are still ongoing. The Antwerp Public Prosecutor's Office will decide what will happen to the suspect once the questioning has finished.
The city centre and surroundings of Antwerp have repeatedly been the target of attacks involving explosives in the past. Just last week, a Dutch 20-year-old was detained following an explosion, again in the area surrounding the train station. The explosion occurred at approximately 03:30 on Saturday at Quinten Matsijsle, near Antwerp's Stadspark.
The glass entrance door to a residential building was heavily damaged. However, no injuries were reported.
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Shortly afterwards, emergency services were called to a fire in a jewellery shop on the corner of De Keyserlei and Koningin Astridplein, where a firebomb had been thrown inside.
The Dutch police later arrested a 20-year-old suspect from Rotterdam for the crime. There are currently no indications that any of the attacks are related to conflicts in the drug environment.
It is also unclear whether the latest attack on Monday night would be linked to last weekend's incidents, but this is currently under investigation.
