Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google’s Street View map application,.
Paul Eidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed the case was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation.
A 14-year-old boy told police last September he had been robbed of money and his cell phone after two men dragged him off his bicycle.
The victim called again in March after seeing an image of himself and two men he believed were his attackers on Street View, police said in a statement.
The police asked Google for the original photo because people’s faces are blurred on Street View. The company complied, and a robbery squad detective immediately recognized one of the twins.
Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge the suspects, whose identities were not released.