‘Bored’ Dutch youths hunt down paedophile suspects amid rise in vigilantism
- Vigilantes are increasingly setting traps for suspects in a crime wave police say has got ‘out of control’
- Authorities blame the escalating number of attacks on ‘boredom’ and conspiracy theories of elites preying on children for satanic rituals
The horror only grew when he died in hospital soon after, with flowers mounting at his door in the Dutch town of Arnheim as neighbours marked a moment of silence.
It didn’t take long for a gang of six people accused of the crime to be rounded up. The youngest was 15 years old. They were self-declared paedophile hunters.
By the group’s own account, they were sure that the pensioner was a paedophile after they set a trap for him. They set up a fake profile for a minor in a gay chat room and then waited for someone to attempt to make contact with the fake individual.
When contact was made, the mark set a time to meet for sex.
But it was the gang who showed up for the appointment. They said they told him off. But for Jan, the confrontation had a deadly ending.
It’s no isolated case. Such groups of paedophile hunters are becomingly commonplace in the Netherlands. Police registered 250 such cases between July and September 2020.