Six men accused of planning to commit a major terrorist attack on targets in the Netherlands, should be jailed for up to 20 years, the public prosecution department said on Friday.

Ringleader Hardi N should be jailed for 18 years while Wail el B, who tried to shoot at police during the arrest, should be jailed for 20 years, the department said.

‘This is without question the most serious case in years,’ the prosecutor said. ‘It would have been attack of the size of Paris,’ he said, referring to co-ordinated terrorist attacks that took place on 13 November 2015, which left 130 people dead.

Gay Pride, and nightclub or an army base were among the potential targets, the prosecutor said earlier in the trial.

The six were arrested after a major police undercover operation in September 2018. The investigation began into 34-year-old Hardi N, an Iraqi national, following a tip-off from the AIVD security service in early 2018.

The court was also shown footage and photos showing the group of suspected terrorists trying on bomb vests and waving Kalashnikov rifles while living in a house on a holiday park in Limburg.

The photos came from police footage of the four men and were made during a two hour meeting between the suspects and two undercover police officers.

The police were posing as arms traders who could supply weapons for an attack and the holiday house was bugged to collect evidence. Four of the gang were arrested that same day.