Police arrested a 22-year-old man Thursday in the Netherlands in connection with a suspected terror threat that led authorities to cancel a concert in Rotterdam hours earlier.
The suspect, who has Dutch nationality, was detained at his home in the southern region of Brabant in the early hours, a Rotterdam police spokesman told CNN. The property was also searched.
Dutch authorities called off the concert Wednesday evening following a tip-off from Spain’s Guardia Civil, which passed on the information after its intelligence services came across it, a spokeswoman for the organization told CNN.
Asked if the terror threat concerning the concert in the Netherlands was connected to last week’s terror attacks in Catalonia, the Guardia Civil spokeswoman said “not directly.”
She said she could not give any further information because the investigation was ongoing.
Authorities did not have to evacuate the venue, Rotterdam Maassilo, because the concert hadn’t yet started, Rotterdam police press officer Roland Ekkers said. The US rock band Allah-Las was scheduled to perform, the band’s website said.
Police said Thursday that a Spanish van driver arrested Wednesday evening after he was stopped for driving erratically near the concert venue did not appear to have any connection with the terror threat.
A search of the man’s van and home did not reveal any link between the driver and the tip-off from Spanish authorities, the Rotterdam police spokesman said. His nationality and the presence of gas canisters in his vehicle, less than a week after the attacks in Spain, had raised concerns, he said. The man was found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
Two suspects allegedly connected to the terror cell behind those attacks were formally charged Tuesday amid reports the cell was planning to target Barcelona landmarks.
The terror attacks last week in Barcelona and the coastal town of Cambrils caused the deaths of 15 people.
