At least 42 underage bombers have already been arrested: ‘The consequences are serious’

• Sophie Feenstra

  editor Domestic

• Remco Andringa

  editor Police and Justice

This year alone, at least 42 underage suspects have been arrested for placing an explosive at houses, or planning to do so. The youngest were 11 years old. Police, justice and youth workers warn about the way in which these young people are approached: easily accessible, often in groups on social media.

How is this approached, why do they respond to requests to cooperate and what are the consequences for these young people? The NOS spoke to youth workers and youth protectors and viewed court decisions in which minors were tried for causing explosions, and recorded the story of a student who was caught planting such a bomb.

In this video from NOS Stories, ‘Liam’ tells how he was arrested by the police while planting an explosive:

That is very easy, says youth worker Peter Ottens. He is the founder of the welfare organization YETS Foundation in Schiedam and guides vulnerable young people. “Sometimes they receive a private message on their phone, but many young people encounter the calls in groups on Snapchat. You are added to it by friends and then you are in a group with dozens of young people from the city. You often don’t know who is in it.” so it only takes one person with the wrong intentions and that entire group will be reached.”

It often starts with the simple question of who wants to do a paid job. Only later do the young people hear that it involves placing an explosive near a door.

Diede van der Heijden, youth probation manager in The Hague, also sees this. “It starts with a message: ‘Do you want to provide a service for a few hundred euros?’ That sounds very attractive and accessible.”

Young people often cannot yet foresee the consequences. “Only when you are in it does it become clear what you have to do and then you are stuck. That is very different from when someone immediately asks you: “Do you want to commit an armed street robbery?” Then you immediately know that it is serious and where you so says yes to.”

The explosions now occur so often that even minors might know what they are getting into. Why do they still accept proposals? “Every now and then young people are put under pressure to do it,” says youth worker Ottens. “Then they hear: if you don’t put this explosive in front of that door, we will put it in front of your family’s door.”

But he sees that most boys do it out of a need to prove themselves. “Sometimes there is not enough money in the family, but even then the need for money is mainly a need to belong. With clothes and things. Just to show: I am not poor, I am someone. Ultimately, we want all belong somewhere, especially if you didn’t get that from home.”

Sometimes young people consciously choose to get further into the criminal environment.

It is almost never clear who the clients are. Contact takes place via online messages (which often disappear immediately) and via several intermediaries. According to Ottens, they know how to convince young people with beautiful stories: “That you will be back home in no time if you are caught, because you are a minor. That young person will not quickly find out whether that is really the case.”

That varies, says Jenny van der Meer, behavioral scientist at Youth Protection West. “You certainly don’t want to keep the really young boys in juvenile detention for too long. You run the risk that they come into contact with young people who are much deeper in the criminal environment. You actually want them to return to their normal routine as quickly as possible. with school and possibly the sports club”.

But that does not mean that the consequences are minor. “After detention, there is always some form of supervision and guidance, which can take up to two years.” Each young person’s needs are assessed. You can think of a reporting obligation, discussions with parents, resilience training and treatment of any psychological problems. They are also looking for work or training.

Accepting such an order can therefore have major consequences. “If you are caught and convicted, you have a criminal record for life,” says youth probation manager Van der Heijden. “That has a significant impact on your future. I sometimes speak to boys who want to work in security or defense. I immediately have to disabuse them of the dream: that will be difficult with a criminal record.”

Approaching young people is difficult to prevent, all parties say. What is possible is to start a conversation with young people: what makes you open to this? “When you ask further questions and move forward in your relationship with the young person, you sometimes come across sadness from missing a father in the family or poverty,” says youth worker Ottens. “Then we can discover together: what is a more positive alternative to meet that need?”

There aren’t enough conversations like that yet, he thinks. “It is really underestimated how many young people are approached for this.”

Minors in particular sometimes appear to be easy to seduce. The police say they do not yet have an idea of ​​exactly how large the proportion of underage suspects is. It is clear that the majority of suspects are younger than 23.