Last week’s terrorist alert in an Amsterdam suburb was based on a “very serious tip-off”, says the Dutch capital’s Chief of Police in Monday’s issue of the daily De Volkskrant. According to Bernard Welten, the anonymous female caller knew details about the 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks that “usually, no-one knows about”. In addition he believed that during the call, the woman (calling from Brussels and speaking in Dutch with a French accent) consulted a second person”. “There was no doubt that is was a very serious tip-off”, Welten told the newspaper.

The Chief of Police is quoted as saying that the caller provided (and correctly spelled) the names of three men which were said to be on their way to Amsterdam with explosives and had the intention to attack two large stores.