Three people have been arrested in the Netherlands and two in Belgium in connection with bribery investigations involving Nato military contracts.

Among those detained is a former Dutch defence ministry civil servant, who was arrested at Schiphol airport on Monday. The public prosecution service suspects him of accepting bribes in return for awarding contracts. The two other suspects arrested in the Netherlands are not former government employees.

All three appeared in court for a remand hearing on Thursday and are being held in solitary confinement, with access limited to their lawyers. Prosecutors said the arrests followed a tip-off from abroad.

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Belgian police also arrested two people on Monday, one of whom has since been released. According to Belgian authorities, the investigation centres on Nato’s support and procurement agency, which coordinates defence purchases for the alliance’s 32 member states.

Belgian media reported that agency employees might have given confidential information to the companies to help them win contracts, and that money – hundreds of thousands of euros – may have been laundered through consultancy firms which had been set up for the purpose.

Law enforcement agencies in Spain and Luxembourg are also taking part in the investigation, they said. The deals are thought to involve ammunition and drones.

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte told reporters in Turkey that the procurement office is “working very closely with all the relevant authorities, and obviously we will continue doing that. We want to get to the root of this.”