Dutch IKEA stores that were forced to close yesterday because explosives were found in two outlets had been targetted for months in a criminal extortion plot.
A newspaper report this morning claimed that criminals sent the first letters demanding millions of euros in cash and threatening to plant bombs in September.
IKEA closed its 10 Dutch outlets yesterday, in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season, after police found explosives in two stores in Amsterdam and Sliedrecht near Rotterdam.
Two policemen were injured when a device they were trying to defuse blew up in a nearby police station.
IKEA issued a news release from its Sweden headquarters saying that its Dutch office had received a threatening letter before the explosives were found.
The authorities stressed that this was not an attempt at a terrorist attack on the Netherlands.
In the latest extortion letter, quoted by De Telegraaf newspaper, the supposed criminals warned the company that they would show they had the power and the means to shut down all ten stores.
Today, eight of the ten IKEA stores in the Netherlands were expected to be open for business.
