Six kids, 11 adults found stowed away in refrigerated truck in Hoek van Holland
Koninklijke Marechaussee officers found 17 people stowed away in a refrigerated truck in Hoek van Holland on Saturday. Six of the people found were children. The truck was on the ferry about to depart for the United Kingdom. Two suspects were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling, the Marechaussee reported on Monday.
The Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military and is responsible for border security, found the stowaways during a regular exit check for the ferry to the United Kingdom.
The trailer’s refrigeration system was turned on, so medical assistance was called in. Several ambulances responded to the scene, but it proved unnecessary. All 17 people were unharmed.
The group consisted of 14 people with Turkish nationality, two people from Kuwait, and one from Iran.
The Marechaussee arrested the truck driver, a 50-year-old man from Turkey. After further investigation, they also arrested a 31-year-old man from the group found inside the trailer.
The investigation is ongoing. 
Teen arrested after threatening police officer with knife in Heerle
A 17-year-old boy was arrested Saturday night in Heerle after threatening a police officer with a knife during a chase, Omroep Brabant reported.
Police received a call at about 11 p.m. reporting a man with a knife in the Meidoornstraat in the village of Heerle, in Noord-Brabant. When officers arrived, they saw a boy who matched the description provided in the report.
According to police, the suspect ran when he saw the patrol car. One officer got out of the vehicle and chased him on foot. The pursuit continued into the Esdoornstraat.
As the officer approached, the suspect turned around and pointed a knife at the officer, police said. The officer then used pepper spray, after which the boy dropped the knife. No injuries were reported, and the officer filed an official complaint.
3 British men sentenced for planning terror attack on Jewish community
The Preston Crown Court ordered Walid Saadaoui, 38, of Abram, to serve at least 37 years in prison, while Amar Hussain, 52, will serve at least 26 years. No hometown was listed for Hussain, according to the Greater Manchester Police.
Also sentenced was Bilel Saadaoui, 37, of Hindley, who will serve a six-year sentence, plus another year of community service. He is Walid Saadaoui's younger brother.
"Today's sentencing brings a conclusion to one of the most significant terrorist plot disruptions we have seen in the U.K. for several years," said Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts, who oversees counterterrorism policing in the northwest.
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"Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein intended to target members of the Jewish community in an evil act born out of hate and intolerance," he continued.
"If they had been successful, then what followed would have been devastating and potentially one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on U.K. soil."
"Walid was the ringleader," Potts added. "He was the driving force behind the plot, and he recruited Hussein to join him."
Walid Saadaoui and Hussein were convicted in December for plotting the terrorist attack in violation of the Terrorism Act of 2006, while Bilel Saadaoui was convicted of failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors said Walid Saadaoui in late 2023 established contact online with someone he thought shared his views and frequently exchanged messages in which he discussed carrying out a "significant terrorist attack targeting Jewish people," the police said.
The contact was an undercover operative going by the name "Farouk" in court documents.
Walid Saadaoui introduced Farouk to Hussein, and the pair thought Farouk could supply them with automatic firearms from an overseas source to enable them to carry out their planned attack.
The two would-be terrorists conducted reconnaissance in Upper Broughton in Salford and the Port of Dover, which is the port of entry through which they thought the automatic weapons would be delivered.
Evidence gathered showed Walid Saadaoui discussed the plan with his brother, Bilel Saadaoui, which the elder brother initially denied but later admitted to during cross-examination in court.
Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say planned to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna in August 2024.
Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.
Vienna prosecutors also accuse the defendant of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.
Prosecutors also say that the defendant had made “several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.
Vienna public prosecutors plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.
The spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutors office confirmed to The Associated Press that the defendant is in custody. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.
Austrian authorities cancelled three planned Taylor Swift shows in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent plot to target the performances.
The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.
“The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission. We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024.






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