Brussels: A former member of the Dutch armed forces has been attempting to recruit soldiers at the Volkel military airbase in the southwestern Netherlands and persuade them to join the radical Islamist cause, media reported Friday.
Officers at the base reported the incident to the security services earlier this week and the incident is now under investigation, according to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Such bids to recruit jihadis inside a military base were “extremely ominous”, sources told the newspaper.
The suspect is said to have approached people using various methods, including sending messages via email, the paper noted.
Several former Dutch soldiers are thought to be involved in the fighting in Syria and Iraq, including Dutch-Turkish national Omar Yilmaz who was interviewed last week by the US TV network CBS.
The Dutch government decided Sep 24 to join the US-led international coalition formed to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State militia in Iraq and Syria, and sent eight of its F-16 fighter jets to Iraq.