Police have arrested a man who they say was planning to attack a coronavirus vaccination location with a firework bomb in the naval town of Den Helder.

The man, who is 37, comes from Den Helder himself and is suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the former town hall, which is now used as a vaccination centre, the public prosecution department said in a statement.

He was arrested on March 18 but the news has only just become public. Officials declined to say how far advanced his plans were.

The man’s aim, the public prosecution department says, was to ‘terrify the population and disrupt the country’s economic and social structures.’ The vaccination programme is a crucial government process which the man was planning to sabotage in a violent way, the department said.

This is not the first time that a vaccination centre or test location has been a target. A month ago, an explosive went off outside a coronavirus test centre in Bovenkarspel and there have also been incidents in Breda, Beek en Donk, Urk and Hilversum.