Amsterdam bomb scare: Man arrested after airport security alert

A man has been arrested for exhibiting "suspicious" behaviour following a bomb scare at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Heavily-armed Dutch military police and bomb disposal experts were deployed at the airport late on 12 April after reports that a man was acting suspiciously.

The unidentified person was detained but the police said they did not find any dangerous substance in his luggage. A section of the airport plaza was evacuated and cordoned off for about four hours before being eventually lifted. No one was injured in the incident.

"The airport has been declared safe again," military police spokesman Alfred Ellwanger told the AFP news agency. "Around 9.45pm a man was arrested on the square in front of the main entrance to the airport's plaza."

High alert

The Netherlands has been on high alert since three suicide bombers killed 32 people at an airport and a metro station in Brussels last month. Ellwanger said no flights had been disrupted at one of Europe's busiest airline hubs due to the security alert.

The airport's Twitter account said: "Part of Schiphol is not accessible due to an incident. Police is investigating the matter. For now, air traffic has not been affected.

"Trains to and from Schiphol are running. Railway platforms are accessible. Buses and taxis are departing from departure level."

The police also cordoned off the Sheraton Hotel, which lies adjacent to the airport. "Nobody is telling us anything about what's going on. My car is in the parking garage and I can't get it out. I'm a diabetic and I need my insulin," a 72-year-old Dutchman told AFP.

CNN reported that another arrest was made at Leiden train station, about a 20-minute train ride from the airport. It is unclear if the two arrests were related.

Witness Victor Pascual said people around him started running while he was in the shuttle bay at Amsterdam airport. "We have not been given any further information apart from to remain calm," he said.