Dutch police arrest French national suspected of planning attack

[THE HAGUE] Dutch police on Sunday arrested a 32-year-old French national in the port city of Rotterdam on suspicion of planning a terror attack, prosecutors said, in a raid carried out at the request of French authorities.

The 32-year-old man is thought to have been planning an attack in France in the name of the Islamic State group along with Reda Kriket, a terror suspect who was detained near Paris on Thursday, a French police source told AFP.

"French authorities on Friday requested the arrest of this French national," the Dutch prosecutor's office said in a statement, adding that the man was suspected "of preparing a terrorist attack".

The statement made no mention of any connection with the November attacks in Paris.

The detained French national is expected to be handed over to France "shortly", the statement added, a process that could take "several days", spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.

Three other men were also detained in the police operations in Rotterdam Sunday, including two suspects of Algerian background aged 43 and 47. No immediate details were available about the third man.

The raids were carried out at two homes in the west of the city, and several nearby houses were evacuated "for the safety of the residents".

The Netherlands was already on heightened alert after Tuesday's airport and metro attacks in Brussels, with security stepped up at airports and train stations and border controls tightened.

French police said earlier they had foiled an attack by 34-year-old Mr Kriket - a man previously convicted in Belgium in a terror case - after arresting him and discovering explosives at his home near Paris.

The French police source said the man arrested in the Netherlands was wanted by French authorities in December over criminal association with a terrorist organisation.

AFP