Police in the Netherlands have arrested a 34-year-old man on accusations he sought to join al-Qaida in order to carry out an attack in the Middle East, reports said Friday.
Details of the arrest, reported by BNO News and the Dutch-language newspapers De Telegraaf and Almere Vandaag, remained sketchy.
As reported by the by-subscription website BNO News, the country's prosecutor's office said the suspect was arrested earlier this week in the city of Almere.
"The reason for the investigation is a report from the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD)," a statement from the prosecutor’s office said, according to BNO. "The man became the focus of an AIVD investigation into jihadist networks."
BNO, citing the AIVD report, said the suspect had planned to travel to Syria to join the al-Qaida network. From there, he would possible travel to Iraq or the West Bank or Gaza to carry out some kind of attack, BNO reported.
A Rotterdam magistrate extended the man’s detention for at least two weeks, BNO reported.