Dutch authorities have cleared five of the 12 Somali men who were detained Christmas Eve on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack in the Netherlands.
Prosecutors said Sunday they had no evidence of criminal involvement against the five men, but the investigation of the other seven was continuing.
The prosecturos must decide by Tuesday whether to bring the remaining Somalis before a judge or let them go.
The men were picked up in Rotterdam after a tip from intelligence services that an attack might be imminent.
There was no information on the alleged target, although Rotterdam is one of Europe's biggest commercial hubs, with a huge port and large oil and gas storage facilities.
Three of the detainees who had no valid residency permits were turned over to immigration police, prosecutors said. Two of them were residents of Denmark and the residency of the third was not established. Two Dutch residents were released.
Police raid internet cafe, motel rooms
On Friday, police raided an internet cafe, four homes and two motel rooms but found no weapons or explosives.
Authorities said they cannot know for sure if they prevented a terrorist assault, but they did not want to take any risks.
"What we did is take away the threat that was formed by these people," prosecutor Gerrit van der Burg said Saturday on national television.
The weekend action was not enough to raise the general threat level set by the National Terrorism Co-ordinator, which remained at "limited." Authorities believe the Netherlands could be targeted by Islamic radicals because of the high-profile anti-Islam campaign by one of the country's most popular politicians, Geert Wilders.
The terrorist alert came a year after a Nigerian student, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, passed through Amsterdam airport on a flight to Detroit, where he allegedly tried to ignite explosives taped to his underwear as the plane made its descent to its U.S. destination.
Source: The Canadian Press
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