A rock concert in Rotterdam was cancelled last night after police found a bus with Spanish licence plates loaded with gas canisters outside the venue.
A rock concert in Rotterdam was cancelled last night after police found a bus with Spanish licence plates loaded with gas canisters outside the venue.
Dutch authorities were tipped off about a terror threat by their Spanish counterparts, who have been on high alert following the Barcelona terror attack last week that left 14 people dead.
An American rock group named after Allah had been due to play to around 1,000
fans at the Maassilo concert venue.
The driver of the bus, who was taken into custody, was Spanish, reports said.
There were no suggestions last night that the apparent foiled terror plot in Rotterdam was linked to the Barcelona cell.
Sources said there was no connection between Barcelona and that the tip-off about the Rotterdam plot was the result of an investigation by the Spanish Civil Guard that had been under way for some time
Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam, warned against “swift conclusions”.
“It would be wrong at this moment to pile up these facts and conclude: thus there was a plan to attack with gas bottles, etc, because that was the picture last week in Barcelona. I would be careful with that, ” he said.
He said that police and prosecutors had taken the threat against the concert seriously and it would now take time to investigate.
Police sealed off the area around the venue and a bomb squad was examining the bus.
The National Co-ordinator for Security and Counterterrorism’s office said the threat level in the Netherlands was unchanged at “substantial”, where it has been since 2013.
Allah-Las is a four-piece band from Los Angeles.
In an interview with The Guardian last year, band members said they chose their name because they were seeking a “holy sounding” name and did not realise it might cause offence.
“We get emails from Muslims, here in the US and around the world, saying they’ re offended, but that absolutely wasn’ t our intention, ” said Miles Michaud, the lead singer.
“We email back and explain why we chose the name, and mainly they understand.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)
