Military police officers at Schiphol airport have shot a man armed with a long knife after he refused to put down his weapon.

The Marechaussee were called to the airport’s main departure hall on Monday evening, following reports that a man was walking through the area with a knife. When the man repeatedly ignored calls to put down the weapon, said to be ‘dozens of centimetres’ long, police shot him in the leg and arrested him.

A second man, seen on security cameras at the airport, with the knife carrier, has also been arrested.

A spokesman told the AD that the airport was quiet at the time of the incident but that several travellers had seen the man waving the knife.

Police said later on Tuesday that the man who was shot is from Tanzania and had been causing trouble earlier. The second man who was arrested is no longer considered a suspect and a terrorist motive is unlikely, police said.