A 24-year-old student who was arrested on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack was linked too a network of right-wing extremists in the United States and Europe, according to researchers that monitor far-right groups.

The Anne Frank Stichting said the man, from the village of Erp in Noord-Brabant, was a member of the Geuzenbond, an anti-immigration youth group in the Netherlands and Belgium whose members have posted anti-Semitic statements on social media.

Police found illegal weapons when they searched the student’s home after receiving a tip-off from the security service AIVD last week.

The public prosecution service said he was prepared to carry out a terrorist act, but did not disclose further details.

The student was said to be involved in one of the Geuzenbond’s “active groups”, that provide physical training and promote the cult of the “strong Aryan male” in the US and Europe.

Anti-fascist organisation Kafka said a former restaurant in Erp was used as a clubhouse for a local “active group”, based on photographs taken in the area.

A Kafka spokesman told the Gelderlander newspaper that the arrest indicated the groups were becoming more violent. “Until now their activities were mainly restricted to demonstrations and putting up posters. Weapons are a new thing.”

He also attended a recent protest against a planned asylum seekers’ accommodation facility in Helmond, near Eindhoven, which was addressed by PVV party leader Geert Wilders.

The far-right students’ association GNSV expelled the man from its Nijmegen branch following his arrest. Chairman Daan Meershoek told NRC that terrorist acts were “in no way part of the democratic debate the student association takes part in”.