Student in coat raises bomb alert in Brussels

The authorities detained the man after a four-hour standoff on Wednesday. The youth originally raised suspicion by wearing a winter jacket on a hot summer day, fitted with wires and hiding electronic equipment.

When confronted with the police, he reacted in a way that was "not normal" a Brussels police spokesman told reporters.

Officers kept the man under guard, with firefighters and a bomb squad also arriving as a precaution.

"When the bomb disposal robot moved towards the person under surveillance he made some very worrying statements that led us to fear that he had explosives on him," spokesman Christian De Coninck told RTL-TVI television.

The initial check added to the suspicions as it turned out the man had metal plates under the coat. A thorough search, however, discovered no traces of explosives.

"He was a student who was going to do his studies in radiation. So all the belongings he had on him, which were very suspect, were in fact harmless," De Coninck said.

The police took the man for questioning.

'Prototype' raising alarm

A spokesman for Ghent University said that the student was Iranian and spoke English, but no Flemish or French. The researcher had been carrying a special "prototype" of wearable equipment to measure background radiation.

"This instrument takes the form of a jacket containing cables and batteries, which was considered suspect," the spokesman told the Belga news agency.

Belgium has a high population of homegrown jihadists, with tensions running high after Brussels terror strikes left dozens dead in March.

Last month, the police shot a mentally disturbed man who entered a Brussels mall wielding a butcher knife and wearing a fake suicide belt made of salt and biscuits.