Dutch police hold British terror suspect in Amsterdam Published duration 19 September 2010

image caption A British man is being held at Schiphol airport on suspicion of being a terrorist

A British man of Somali origin has been arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on suspicion of being a terrorist, Dutch prosecutors say.

He had arrived from Liverpool en route to Entebbe in Uganda, they said.

A police spokesman said the man had been arrested as his flight was about to take off on Sunday morning.

Police were investigating whether he had links to a foreign militant organisation, prosecutors said. No explosives were found in his luggage.

British officials have confirmed the arrest, but declined to comment on reports that they had tipped off the Dutch authorities.

Uganda and Kenya are both common transit routes for Europe-based Somalis returning home.

Last week, the head of the UK's domestic intelligence service MI5 warned that the UK faced a serious risk of a terrorist attack, adding that Somalia and Yemen were becoming focal points of jihadist activity.

Security review

Earlier this month, two Yemeni men were arrested at Schiphol airport on suspicion of planning a terror attack. They had flown in from Chicago.

They were held for several days then released without charge, after an investigation found no evidence to link them to a terrorist plot.

At the beginning of this year, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from Nigeria was charged with trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on 24 December 2009.

A device allegedly sewn into Mr Abdulmutallab's underwear contained an explosive.

The case triggered a worldwide aviation security review.