Dutch police have arrested a suspect accused of driving two minors linked to a series of explosions in the German state of Hessen in July and August 2025.
The suspect is alleged to have transported the two young people who carried out explosions in Frankfurt am Main and Taunusstein, Europol announced on Wednesday.
The two minors were arrested earlier and have been held in pretrial detention since, it added.
Investigations in Germany were led by Frankfurt Police working with the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office, with support from the Federal Criminal Police Office, also known as the Bundeskriminalamt.
Europol taskforce targets online recruitment of young perpetrators
The case is linked to Europol’s Operational Taskforce GRIMM, a group of law enforcement authorities from 11 European countries set up to tackle so-called “Violence-as-a-Service”, Europol said.
Violence-as-a-Service refers to criminal arrangements where violent acts are outsourced to people who carry them out for others, often after being recruited online.
Europol said those recruited are frequently young people who may be lured by money, status, or a sense of belonging.
Taskforce GRIMM shares intelligence between countries, maps networks involved in arranging violence, and works to disrupt providers of these services.
It also cooperates with technology companies to prevent the online recruitment of young perpetrators.
