They claim that they were entrapped. Could you be entrapped into trying to commit mass murder? Neither could I.

“Dozens could’ve died in foiled terrorist attack, Prosecutor says,” by Janene Pieters, NLTimes, January 10, 2019 (thanks to David):

The Netherlands escaped a terrorist attack that could’ve resulted in “dozens of victims” with the arrest of seven suspects in Arnhem and Weert in September last year, the Public Prosecutor said in court on Thursday – the first proforma hearing in this case. Only three of the six suspects still in detention were present at the hearing, AD reports.

“The suspects said goodbye to friends. These suspects were on the way to commit an attack, with dozens of victims. The Netherlands escaped a major attack”, the Prosecutor said….

The police infiltration started on May 18th last year, after intelligence service AIVD informed the police that main suspect Hardi N. was planning an attack….

Shortly before their arrests, four of the suspects attended firearms training at a home in a holiday park in Weert, Limburg. What they did not know is that the two men who gave them training and provided the firearms, which had been made safe, were undercover police officers. The home was full of eavesdropping equipment and cameras. When the four left the park in a van, they were arrested. Three others were arrested in the Arnhem region. One of the seven suspects has since been released and did not have to appear in court on Thursday.

The suspects who did have to appear are 34-year-old Hardi N., 21-year-old Wail el A., 21-year-old Nabil B., 21-year-old Morat M., 30-year-old Shevan A. and 26-year-old Nadeem S. All of the suspects originally came from the Arnhem region, but some of them moved to Rotterdam and Vlaardingen recently….

The lawyers representing the suspect claim that the police infiltration was entrapment. “The Public Prosecutor helped to create this group. The idea to have the boys train came from the infiltrator. Thus fear of an attack was created. It would not have happened without the Public Prosecutor”, the lawyers said, according to the newspaper.