"Police managed to track down the men, twins aged 24, thanks to Google Street View," said a statement from Groningen police in the northern Netherlands.

Their teenage victim contacted investigators last March after he found an online photograph showing him and his assailants taken moments before the robbery

"As the faces were unrecognisable, police made contact with Google in the United States, and received the original photograph by mail in June. An investigator immediately recognised one of the suspects," said the statement.

One of the two subsequently confessed.