Police defuse threat

Van containing gas bottles found after concert attack tip-off

DUTCH police are investigating possible terror links after arresting a Spaniard driving a van containing gas canisters close to a rock concert which was abruptly cancelled over fears of an attack.

The man “was arrested and taken to the police station”, Rotterdam police said in a Tweet, following a tip-off from Spanish authorities.

The arrest came a little under a week after twin vehicle attacks in Spain killed 15 people, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Dutch bomb squad officials “were investigating the van” which was found just two streets away from the Maassilo concert hall where an American rock band was due to play, they added.

Earlier in the evening Dutch authorities decided to cancel the concert by Californian group Allah-Las in Europe’s largest port city after a tip-off from Spanish police about a possible terror attack.

“In the early evening I was warned by telephone that we had received a threat which had implications for an American concert at the Maassilo in Rotterdam,” the city’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said.

“This signal came from the Spanish police to the Dutch police.”

But Mr Aboutaleb, the country’s first Muslim and immigrant-born mayor who has spoken out against Islamic terror groups, added an investigation was under way and “we cannot say now if the van with the canisters was linked to the threat”.

The four-piece band, from Los Angeles, had been escorted from the concert hall by police wearing bulletproof vests. In a statement, the group said it was “unharmed and are very grateful to the Rotterdam police and other responsible agencies for detecting the potential threat before anyone was hurt”.

The white van had Spanish registration plates and was flagged for circling near the concert venue.