Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with the extortion and physical abuse of a teenager in Amsterdam.

The arrest was made last week in the wake of an attack on a boy on Museumplein who had earlier been threatened via social media platform Snapchat. The perpetrator was later located at an address nearby.

Police are investigating if the teenager is also behind dozens of other threats on Snapchat in which pupils at schools in Amsterdam Zuid and Amstelveen were told  to “pay a fine” because they had been “bothering someone”.

Failure to comply would result in a member of their family being hurt, the messages read.

Others were told they would “get a discount’ on their fine if they supplied the names of other youngsters who would then be targeted.

Police are calling for more victims to come forward. The alleged extortionist will remain in custody for the time being, the judge decided on Friday.