On 2 December 1975, seven South Moluccans seized a train with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the village of Wijster, halfway between Hoogeveen and Beilen in the northern part of the Netherlands. The hijacking lasted for 12 days and three hostages were killed.
At the same time, seven other South-Moluccans took hostages in the Indonesian Consulate in Amsterdam.
The attackers came from Bovensmilde, a village where a few years later another group of South Moluccans seized a primary school. The attackers hid their weapons disguised as presents for the Sinterklaas holiday on 5 December.
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