The terror threat in Rotterdam on Wednesday night was unconnected to the attacks in Spain earlier this month, despite the Spanish link, sources have told international news agencies AP and Reuters.

Reuters says a terrorism expert working with the Spanish authorities has told them the warning followed a long-running investigation by the Guardia Civil which was completely separate to the attack in Barcelona.

Rotterdam police have so far not commented on the claim.

On Wednesday night a concert by Californian band Allah-Las in the city’s Maassilo venue was cancelled after a tip-off from the Spanish police.

Serious warning

Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said he was informed about the terror threat towards the end of the afternoon. The threat said that an attack would take place during the performance and the tip-off was serious enough to merit cancelling the concert, he said.

Police also spotted a suspicious white van with Spanish plates driving backwards and forwards not far from the venue. The driver was arrested and the van found to contain a number of gas bottles, the mayor said.

Domestic use

According to Spanish media, quoting Spanish police sources, the driver of the van was drunk and had no links to jihadi terrorism. The gas bottles were clearly for domestic use, Spanish news agency Europa Press said.

It seems likely that this information came from Rotterdam police but they have not yet said anything publicly about their findings in connection with the van so far, or how many gas bottles it contained.

The van was removed by police around midnight and taken for further investigation.

Band members told the Guardian last year they had chosen the word Allah, Arabic for God, because they were seeking a ‘holy sounding’ name.  ‘We get emails from Muslims, here in the US and around the world, saying they’re offended, but that absolutely wasn’t our intention,’ singer Miles Michaud told the paper.