Mystery surrounds the overnight disappearance of a convicted prisoner from Vught prison, the justice ministry confirmed to news agency ANP on Monday.

The man, who was not being held in the prison’s high security wing, vanished from his cell overnight but was found hiding in a garden shed within the complex later on Monday, the Telegraaf reports.

‘When the cell was opened on Monday morning, the man was no longer inside,’ the spokesman said. ‘He was locked in on Sunday evening. We cannot say how he got out of his cell.’

Vught prison has some 2,400 prisoners and has a high security wing in which people found guilty of terrorism offences are held. Mohammed Bouyeri, who killed film-maker Theo van Gogh, is among its high-profile prisoners.