Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of “state interference” in the Netherlands, prosecutors say, in a case with reported links to Russian spying.
The pair were allegedly contacted by pro-Russian hackers on the messaging app Telegram, Dutch media reported.
One of the boys allegedly walked past the offices of Europol, Eurojust and the Canadian embassy in The Hague carrying a “wi-fi sniffer” – a device designed to identify and intercept wi-fi networks.
The teenagers appeared before a judge on Thursday, who ordered one boy be remanded in detention and the other on strict home bail conditions until a hearing due to take place in the next two weeks.
One of the boy’s father told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that police had arrested his son on Monday afternoon while he was doing his homework.
He said police told him that the arrest related to espionage and rendering services to a foreign country, the paper reports.
The teenager was described as being computer savvy and having a fascination for hacking, while holding a part-time job at a supermarket.