(Adnkronos) – Two 17-year-olds have been arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities on behalf of Russian secret services. This was reported by De Telegraaf, citing officials who called the arrests a “unique case” in the Netherlands. According to Dutch authorities, the two teenagers allegedly conducted hacking operations in The Hague, following a route that passed the headquarters of Europol, Eurojust, and the Canadian embassy with a ‘wi-fi sniffer,’ a device that intercepts data traffic traveling over a wi-fi network, analyzing its content in real time. They were reportedly contacted via Telegram.
The arrests followed a tip from the Dutch intelligence service (Aivd) on Monday. One of the two arrested will remain in pre-trial detention for 14 days, while the other teenager is under house arrest with an electronic tag.
“We live a quiet life and suddenly eight men in balaclavas broke into the house. They had a search warrant and ran upstairs. ‘Espionage,’ someone said. ‘Providing services to a foreign power.’ We received very little explanation other than that,” said the father of one of the two youths, describing the raid on his home. According to the man, his son is a diligent student, who plays hockey and works part-time in a supermarket.
