Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN

This is the moment an armed SWAT team grabs two suspects over a car bomb attack that targeted the largest newspaper in the Netherlands.

The footage shows SWAT team members arresting two suspects at an unidentified location in the Dutch capital.

Cops suspect that drug boss Ridouan Taghi, the Netherlands’ most wanted criminal, is the person who gave the order just days after the newspaper wrote an article about him.

Picture Credits: CEN

According to reports, the Dutch police have arrested 12 suspects aged between 20 and 27 years old in a nationwide operation following the attack that was allegedly ordered by Ridouan Taghi, the country’s most wanted drug lord and carried out on June 26 last year.

They are suspected of perpetrating a shocking minivan attack on the Netherlands’ biggest newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’.

According to chief investigator Olivier Dutilh, the suspects are part of a criminal organisation that is believed to have been behind many other attacks.

He said: “There is the suspicion of other criminal acts than just this. That is often the case with people who pursue a criminal career.”

The perpetrator drove a Volkswagen Caddy into the facade of the newspaper’s headquarters in Amsterdam.

He then set fire to some fuel-filled jerrycans and narrowly escaped the subsequent explosion, according to reports.

Besides substantial damage to the building’s facade and lobby, nobody was injured in the attack.

Several cars, motorbikes, GPS devices and an unreported amount of cash have also been seized.

The police have not yet confirmed whether the main suspect behind the ‘De Telegraaf’ bomb attack is among those currently being detained.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the attack a “slap in the face” for the free press and democracy.

The public prosecutor’s office believes that the bomb attack is linked to the newspaper’s campaign against organised crime.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, Taghi is believed to be behind many gang-related assassinations in Amsterdam in recent years.

The 12 suspects have been placed on remand and can only communicate with their legal representatives, according to reports.

The police have not ruled out the possibility of more arrests being made.