FOUSESQUAWK: Utrecht: The Motive

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Utrecht: The Motive

Dutch police have arrested a 40-year-old man (nfd) in Utrecht today in connection with yesterday's terror attack.

There have been rumors in the past 24 hours that the motive for yesterday's shooting in Utrecht might have been a personal dispute. That appears to have been shot down. Police have found no connection between the shooter and any of the victims. In addition, a note that he reportedly left behind left a greeting to his "Muslim brothers"

According to the Dutch news reports, Tanis was located by police as a result of a bank transfer he made with a borrowed cell phone. Police, starting with the bank transfer, identified the phone he was using and tracked its location, which led to the arrest.

Below translation from De Telegraaf is by Fousesquawk.

https://www.msn.com/nl-nl/News/other/internetbankieren-nekt-tramschutter-utrecht/ar-BBUX

Internet banking nails Utrecht tram shooter

A fine piece of financial investigation proved fatal for Gökmen T.(anis) yesterday. The attacker of Turkish origin made a money transfer via telebanking using a phone he borrowed from a friend shortly after he killed three people.

The mobile phone, with which the remarkable transaction was carried out, was able to be traced, and so the investigators discovered T.(anis)' location yesterday afternoon. Here he was overpowered by an arrest team in the early evening.

Yesterday, the investigators-after the identity of the attacker was first ascertained-were only able to hunt down an old telephone number of T.(anis).

That number did not lead to any useful information as to his location. Investigation with friends and family also had no results. Meanwhile, the threat of further attacks by T.(anis) increased.

Due to these enormous risks, the police also decided to monitor the bank details of the suspect in real time. This is a very exceptional step in political circles that is only taken in exceptional (cases).

Shortly after the attack, T.(anis) appears to have logged into his bank account with an unknown mobile telephone and transferred money. The transaction was able to be directly linked to the number of a mobile phone, which could then be checked out using special equipment thanks to an urgent authorization from a magistrate.

The phone turned out to be property of a friend of T.(anis). The digital tracking led to the location where T.(anis) was staying. Last night, just after 6 o'clock, a team from the Special Intervention Service raided (the location) and arrested T.(anis).

Meanwhile, it has become clearer why the police and public prosecutor have taken the terrorist motive of the attack seriously to now and consider other motives to be less probable. In a letter recovered from the escape car, T.(anis) not only describes that he acted in the name of Allah, but greets his "Muslim brothers".