A 19-year-old carrying what appeared to be a gun entered Dutch news broadcaster NOS's studio Thursday night and demanded airtime to make a statement, according to its director.
The man also claimed to be part of a "hackers' collective," according to a reporter with NOS who spoke to the man after he was arrested.
The Dutch broadcaster was off-air for about an hour. When it returned to broadcast, footage aired of a man in a black suit and tie who was wielding what later turned out to be a fake gun and walking around the studio by himself.
Speaking softly to someone off-camera — a security guard who had been forced to let him into the building — the man said, "We are hired in by intelligence agencies."
NOS Online Editor Rik van den Berg tweeted this photo of the footage on air:
Krijg via via deze foto. Dit zou binnendringer @nos zijn.
Shortly after the man's arrival, police raided the station and arrested the man without a struggle.
Police said that the man's gun was fake.
The suspect also gave NOS a letter, which they have published in Dutch on their website, that warns of eight bombs with radioactive material placed around the Netherlands and hackers who are ready for a cyber attack if his list of demands, including 10 minutes of airtime, were not met.
According to NOS reporter Martijn Bink, the man, who was not identified, said he was part of a hacker group.
Police evacuated the building and searched the premises, but let staff members back into the building after no threat was found.
The situation was heightened in the wake of the attack on Charlie Hebdo in France.
NOS director Jan de Jong said the studio had heightened security in the building following the Paris attack.
"This is your worst nightmare, especially after Charlie Hebdo," De Jong said later on a special NOS news show.
Jong also said the security guard was told by the suspect to take him to main evening news studio. The guard, however, took the man to an unused studio where daytime bulletins are usually broadcast instead.
The NOS studio is located in Hilversum, 12 miles north of Amsterdam, in a Media Park where most Dutch broadcasters are located. The area is heavily guarded, since populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot to death in a parking lot there after going on a radio interview in 2002.
Prosecutor Johan Bac, who spoke at a news conference in Hilversum, said the suspect was being held on suspicion of making a threat, weapons possession, and taking a hostage.
Bac said the suspect was from the town of Pijnacker in South Holland province, but did not give his name.
Investigators said they were still determining the man's motives and seriousness of his threats, but there was no indication the act was related to Islamic extremists.
Watch the man's arrest go down here:
