Holland's problem
By Lorenzo Vidino
Reports coming from Holland today indicate that Dutch authorities have carried out anti-terror raids in various cities, arresting seven individuals between The Hague and Amsterdam. Officials have revealed that the main target of the operation is 19-year-old Samir Azzouz. Azzouz is the enfant prodige of the so-called Hofstad group, the maxi-cell responsible for the assassination of Theo van Gogh and other attempted attacks in Portugal and Holland, and the living example of the inadequacy of the Dutch anti-terrorism system. At age 16 Amsterdam-born Azzouz attempted to join the mujhaeddin fighting in Chechnya with Abdelaziz Beniyach, a leading GICM member, but the two were arrested by Ukrainian custom officers before reaching the Caucasus. Once back in Holland, Azzouz was arrested a first time in the fall of 2003 along with Mohammed Bouyeri, the future killer of Theo van Gogh, but both men were immediately released for lack of evidence. By the first months of 2004 17-year-old Azzouz had become one of the key elements of the Hofstad group. According to Dutch authorities, he had begun surveiling key installations throughout the Netherlands that were suitable targets for attacks. In June, he was arrested in connection with the robbery of the small supermarket where he worked, and police searched his Rotterdam apartment. Investigators found a gun, two ammunition clips, night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and chemicals commonly used in making bombs. They also found sketches and floor plans of Amsterdam�s Schiphol Airport, the headquarters of the AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst, Dutch intelligence agency), the parliament and Defense Ministry in The Hague, and a nuclear power plant in Borssele.
Dutch prosecutors, who tried Azzouz as an adult, asked for a sentence of seven years. They also demanded that Azzouz be denied his voting rights for twelve years, an unusual request that they argued was justified because he had tried to �attack democracy.� But as often happens in terrorism trials in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam court acquitted Azzouz, sentencing him to only three months for illegal possession of firearms, a term he had already served. Exiting the courthouse with his wife, Azzouz celebrated his release by punching a freelance photographer and knocking him unconscious against a parked car.
The recently published 2004 Dutch intelligence report clearly states that �The AIVD considers this radical Muslim as one of the core members of the Hofstad group.�
Today�s events clearly show both Azzouz�s dangerousness and the Dutch legal system�s inability to deal with the severe terrorist threat it is facing.