There have already been more robberies in the city of Groningen thus far in 2019 than in the entirety of 2018. In response, the Groningen police have assigned more officers to be out on the streets.
Translation by Traci White
National broadcaster NOS reports that in the last two weeks alone, five robberies have taken place in the north of the city. A police spokesperson told the NOS that it is unclear if the recent incidents are related. “The descriptions of the suspects make it sound like they are not the same people involved in all of the robberies, but we are looking into it.”
Dagblad van het Noorden writes that several of the cases do share some similiarites: the robberies are usually carried out by two suspects who appear to be carrying either knives of guns, and they tend to occur around closing time.
RTV Noord reports that is it not yet exactly clear how much more of a police presence there will be on the streets, but the cops are likely to be concentrated in the Korreweg and Paddepoel neigbourhoods, were most of the recent incidents have occurred. The Dagblad reports that the robberies have been taking place on the outskirts of Selwerd, De Hoogte and the Concordiabuurt, and has created a map sharing the locations and descriptions of the robberies in the city.
Earlier this week, the Groninger Internet Courant reports that a Domino’s pizza on the Zonnelaan was targeted by two young men carrying weapons. Over the past ten months, there have been eight robberies targeting delivery and take out restaurants.
According to Dagblad van het Noorden, at least one business has been targeted multiple times: the Eat Tasty cafetraia on the Floresstraat has been robbed three times over the past year. There were two cases that occurred in people’s homes, resulting in injuries to the occupants.
