Breathe a sigh of relief in Ede: The police have arrested the suspected hostage taker. The authorities report that everyone is free. They were held in a bar for hours.
The hostage-taking in the Dutch city of Ede has ended. The police reported the arrest of a person who had a criminal record. All hostages are free again. There is said to have been no direct relationship between them and the alleged perpetrator.
The man had held several people in a bar in the city center for hours. The 28-year-old is said to have threatened four employees with knives after a party. Chief Public Prosecutor Marthyne Kunst announced this at a press conference. At first he released three hostages, but finally he surrendered. Videos and images showed the masked man leaving the building with his hands raised and being led away.
The hostage taker had a backpack with him. Initially it was feared that there might be explosives inside. After searching the backpack, a police spokesman confirmed that no explosives had been found. The ANP news agency reported this in the afternoon.
Motive still unclear
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the man is known to the police: he had already been convicted of a “threat” last year. No details were given.
There is still no information about the motive for the hostage-taking, Kunst said. “We will now carry out detailed investigations into this, as well as into the mental state of the suspect,” explained the senior public prosecutor. However, investigators do not believe there was a terrorist motive.
The mayor of Ede, René Verhulst, called for no private photos or videos of what happened to be distributed. Out of consideration for the hostages and their relatives, such recordings should not be shared on social networks, wrote Verhulst. This is a “terrible situation” for the people affected.
Apartments evacuated, area cordoned off
“We were on site within two minutes, the situation seemed to be very serious,” reported Anne Jan Oosterheert, the police operations manager. “There was talk of explosives and knives had been seen.” In view of this difficult threat to assess, a major operation was launched with all available forces, including a heavily armed special unit which, according to information from the broadcaster NOS, is also equipped with a robot to defuse explosive devices.
Train traffic to Ede train station was at a standstill. Hundreds of people were taken from their homes in the area surrounding the crime scene and brought to safety. The entire area was cordoned off on a large scale.
Matthias Reiche, ARD Brussels, tagesschau, March 30, 2024 1:44 p.m