Twelve men of Somali origin have been arrested in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities, the Netherlands prosecution service said on Saturday.

The men were arrested late Friday following a tip-off by Dutch intelligence "that a number of Somalis wanted to commit a terrorist attack in the Netherlands in the near future," a statement said. The suspects are aged between 19 and 48. Six lived in Rotterdam, five had no known address and one was a Danish resident.

"They are of Somali origin, but several of them have Dutch nationality and one of them has Danish nationality," prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP. "We have not yet determined the nationality of some of them."

Investigators searched a shop and four houses in Rotterdam and two motel rooms in the southern town of Gilze-Rijen as part of the probe, but found no weapons or explosives. De Bruin said the men "are being questioned".

"They will be brought before a judge within three days to decide whether or not to keep them in custody."
More arrests were not on the cards "for now," the spokesman said.

Judith Sluiter, spokeswoman for the Dutch National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism, said the arrests did not warrant changing the country's terror threat level from "limited".

Source: AFP