01 Jan British man arrested at Amsterdam airport for false bomb threat

Dutch police said they arrested a 29-year-old British man at gunpoint at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Friday after he shouted several times that he had a bomb.

The man, whose identity is not being released in accordance with Dutch privacy laws, did not have a bomb, said spokesman Eric Vermeulen of the Dutch Royal Marechaussee, or border police. Vermeulen said the man is being interrogated to see what his motivation was.

Making false bomb threats is a criminal act in the Netherlands, and the man will face charges after the case is turned over to a prosecutor, Vermeulen said.

One of the airport’s three departure halls was evacuated for around 30 minutes after the incident, which took place at around 8 a.m. local time (0700 British time).