Police have arrested a third man in connection with a nationwide spate of arson attacks on telecom masts.

The 30-year-old comes from the Flevoland town of Swifterbant and is the second man to be picked up in the town for the arson attacks. Last week a 24-year-old man from Swifterbant was arrested after a fire at a transmitter in nearby Dronten.

There have been over 20 fires at transmitters in the past few weeks. Earlier, a 34-year-old man was charged with setting fire to a mast near Groningen.

Conspiracy theorists

Police say the fires are likely to be the work of activists who oppose the development of a 5G network in the Netherlands.

Some conspiracy theorists say 5G has been linked to coronavirus, others say it is dangerous to health and the environment in general. Anti-5G campaigners took part in a rally with anti-lockdown activitists and anti-vaxxers in The Hague earlier this week.

On Wednesday night, another transmitter was set on fire, this time in Noord-Brabant province.

Earlier this week, Vodafone became the first provider in the Netherlands to start rolling out a partial 5G service.