Six suspects of a large youth gang from the Parkstad region will stand trial in Maastricht on Tuesday.

They are part of a group of a total of 75 criminal youths who committed a large number of crimes in varying compositions. This occurred not only in the Parkstad region, but also in neighboring foreign countries, i.e., Belgium and Germany.

Crimes

They committed thefts, ram-raids, receiving stolen goods and possession of prohibited weapons and ammunition, among others. Most of the crimes were committed in 2016.

Hard core

According to Brunssum Mayor Luc Winants, the hard core of the group consisted of about 15 to 20 people. The others mainly performed manual labor.

Police

The first 14 suspects were arrested in a large-scale police operation in January. A few weeks later, the prosecutor's office and the municipality of Brunssum reported that the entire group of suspects was much larger.