Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport evacuated after a man claimed to have a bomb

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has been evacuated after Dutch police has arrested a man who locked himself in a toilet and claimed to have a bomb.

Schiphol’s two main international terminals were evacuated at about 11:30, as the bomb squad and scores of police arrived at the scene.

The terminals reopened about four hours later, after officers said the man posed no threat to the public.

However, delays continued to affect the airport – one of Europe’s busiest.

Dutch border police were investigating whether the suspect had explosives in his luggage.

Live television streams had shown police with guns, dogs and balaclavas outside the building, she added.

By 16:00 local time, Schiphol’s website was showing 16 cancellations to inbound flights and 11 to departures. Dozens of flights were delayed.

A Schiphol spokesman said: “Things are not back to normal yet. The evacuation is over and we are busy getting operations back on track but there will be some delays and cancellations for the rest of the day.”

On 25 December 2009, a Nigerian student smuggled explosives on to a flight from Schiphol to Detroit in the US after flying into Amsterdam from Lagos.

He has pleaded guilty to trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines jet he boarded and is due to be sentenced on Thursday. He faces life imprisonment.