Justice minister Ivo Opstelten is to investigate whether it is legally possible to confiscate the passports of young Dutch nationals who plan to fight with rebel forces in Syria, Nos television reports.

‘We have to prevent them from travelling,’ Opstelten is quoted as saying after Friday’s cabinet meeting.

A majority of MPs earlier called on the cabinet to look at the possibility of taking the passports of would-be jihadists.

VVD parliamentarian Klaas Dijkhoff has also asked the minister to find out if they can be stripped of their Dutch nationality on returning to the Netherlands and could be prosecuted for war crimes, news agency ANP said.

The terrorism threat in the Netherlands has been raised from ‘limited’ to ‘substantial’ following reports that up to 100 young Dutch men have gone to fight overseas. Two are now known to have been killed in Syria.