Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The man dropped the fake gun when police stormed the studio 
 
 A man wielding a fake gun has been arrested in a studio of Dutch news broadcaster NOS, causing the main evening bulletins to be cancelled. 
 
 Staff were evacuated from the building in the Media Park in the city of Hilversum. 
 
 The man, smartly dressed and carrying what appeared to be a long pistol, paced around a studio, reportedly demanding airtime. 
 
 Armed police then stormed into the studio and overpowered him. 
 
 Prosecutors later said that the man, aged 19 and from the town of Pijnacker near The Hague, was in police custody. 
 
 He is being held on suspicion of making a threat, weapons possession and taking a hostage, officials added. 
 
 Police combed the building, declaring it safe shortly after 22:00 (21:00 GMT). 
 
 Justice and Safety Minister Ivo Opstelten said it appeared that the man had been acting on his own. 
 
 During the disruption to the NOS news programme, the channel broadcast a message reading: "In connection with circumstances, no broadcast is available at this time." 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption Staff were evacuated from the studios while armed police searched the buildings 
 
 The man's motive was unclear. Dutch media reported that he was believed to be a student at a technical university and had been living with his mother and stepfather. 
 
 The NOS footage shows him saying: "The things that are going to be said [pause] - those are very large world affairs. We were hired by the security service." 
 
 A threatening letter the man allegedly gave to staff, warning of bomb and cyber attacks if he was prevented from going on air, has been published on the NOS website (in Dutch). 
 
 A reporter who spoke to him said he had claimed to be from a "hackers' collective", AP news agency says. 
 
 Studio arrest 
 
 When the channel came back on the air, it broadcast video of the man wandering about a studio. 
 
 According to NOS director Jan de Jong, he had wanted to go to the main evening news studio but instead a guard took him to a studio where daytime bulletins are broadcast. 
 
 Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and carrying what appeared to be a long black pistol, he can be seen on the video walking around in the studio, which appears to be empty. 
 
 Armed police then storm in, shouting: "Drop it! Drop it! Get on your knees!" 
 
 He drops the gun, saying: "I dropped it. It's dropped." 
 
 Police then put handcuffs on him and take him away. 
 
 According to Mr de Jong, the man had a list of demands and wanted 10 minutes' airtime. 
 
 Controversial politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead in the Media Park in 2002 after giving a radio interview. ||||| * Young man in suit arrested in television studio 
 
 * Man threatened security guard, suggested he had accomplices 
 
 * TV says man is student who lost parents, not on jihadist list 
 
 * Dutch minister says man appears to have acted alone (Adds police identifying man as 19-year-old Dutchman) 
 
 By Thomas Escritt and Toby Sterling 
 
 AMSTERDAM, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A 19-year-old Dutchman with a pistol forced his way into the studios of the national broadcaster NOS on Thursday demanding to be allowed to go on air, but was quickly arrested, officials said. 
 
 Wearing a black suit and tie, the man entered the studio after threatening a guard with a pistol, witnesses said. It was unclear how he passed through security, which was increased after the attacks in Paris earlier this month. 
 
 Footage aired on Dutch TV showed the man pacing in the studio with a black pistol behind his back. 
 
 He had intended to speak to the country on the most popular evening news broadcast, but was led to an empty studio by a quick-thinking security guard. 
 
 "This is taking too long," the man said. Then police stormed into the studio yelling, "Drop it! Drop it! And get on your knees!". He dropped the gun, saying, "I dropped it. It's dropped", and the police put handcuffs on him and took him away. 
 
 The man lives in the central Dutch town of Pijnacker, near the university town Delft, officials said, declining to provide details. They refused to comment on media reports that he was a student whose parents had recently died and that he was not on a watchlist of Islamist militants. 
 
 He was being questioned and could be charged with kidnapping, possession of a firearm and threatening people with a weapon, prosecutor Johan Bac said at a press conference. 
 
 No one was hurt, but the NOS television broadcaster cancelled its two main nightly newscasts. 
 
 The man's motive was unclear; the NOS footage showed him saying, "The things that are going to be said (pause) those are very large world affairs. We were hired by the security service." 
 
 Police special forces swept the building for explosives and found nothing, police spokesman Christine Scholts said. 
 
 "We are currently investigating who this man is and what he wants," she said. The police were looking into claims that he had accomplices around the country with explosives. 
 
 "He took the security guard hostage and said he wanted air time. If they didn't give it to him, he said there would be bombs in different places in the Netherlands that would explode if he didn't get time on TV," Scholts said. 
 
 The threats were reportedly also contained in a letter that the man took to the studio, a purported copy of which was aired by the RTL news channel. 
 
 "Realise that I am not on my own," it said. "Furthermore, eight high explosives have been planted that contain radioactive material. If you don't take me to studio 8 to make my broadcast, we will be forced to step into action." 
 
 Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the letter. 
 
 Dutch Minister for Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten told the ANP national news agency the man appeared to have acted alone. 
 
 Security has been tightened across Europe since jihadist attacks on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris this month, as well as the killing of two gunmen in Belgium during raids on an Islamist group that authorities said were planning to attack police. 
 
 NOS television said the gunman appeared to be a student who had recently lost both parents. It also said he did not figure on security services' lists of suspected Islamist militants. 
 
 NOS produces the most widely watched television newscast in the Netherlands and is based in the main national broadcast park in Hilversum. 
 
 Security has been tight there since populist politician Pim Fortuyn was shot outside a studio in 2002. 
 
 As the gunman entered the studios on Thursday, NOS's main news channel displayed a message that read, "In connection with circumstances, no broadcast is available at this time." (Writing by Anthony Deutsch. Editing by Kevin Liffey, Susan Fenton, Toni Reinhold) ||||| HILVERSUM, Netherlands (AP) — A 19-year-old gunman who stormed into the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS demanding airtime Thursday night claimed to be from a "hackers' collective," according to a reporter who spoke to the man. 
 
 A member of security forces is seen outside the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. A gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security forces are seen outside the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. A gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on Thursday and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security forces are seen outside the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. A gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on Thursday and... (Associated Press) 
 
 A police vehicle enters the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015, where a gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on Thursday and demanded... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security forces are seen outside the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. A gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on Thursday and... (Associated Press) 
 
 Security forces are seen outside the Media Park in Hilversum, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. A gunman entered the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS outside Amsterdam on Thursday and... (Associated Press) 
 
 NOS was off-air for around an hour. When it came back, it showed recorded footage of the young man, wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and carrying a pistol. 
 
 Speaking calmly to someone off-camera, the man said, "We are hired in by intelligence agencies." Shortly after, police arrived with their guns drawn and ordered the man to drop his weapon and put his hands up. At least five police officers then ordered him to turn around and lie down, which he did and he was arrested without a struggle. 
 
 Police said in a statement the man demanded airtime and threatened that bombs would go off at several locations around the Netherlands if his demand wasn't met. Special police units were searching the building. 
 
 Prosecutor Johan Bac, who spoke at a news conference in Hilversum, said the suspect was from the small town of Pijnacker near The Hague. Bac said he was being held on suspicion of making a threat, weapons possession and taking a hostage. The suspect's name wasn't released by the prosecutor. 
 
 Officials said they were still investigating the man's background and the seriousness of the threat he posed. 
 
 "There is a major investigation underway to get clarity as quickly as possible about what happened here tonight," Bac said. 
 
 There was no immediate indication that the incident was related to Islamic extremism. Nobody was injured and there were no reports of shots being fired. 
 
 NOS reporter Martijn Bink said he spoke to the man after he was arrested and he claimed to be from a hackers' collective. He didn't elaborate. 
 
 The broadcaster later reported on its website that the man had a silencer on the pistol and threatened a security guard, forcing him to take him upstairs to the editorial offices. 
 
 When the incident was over, NOS director Jan de Jong told the broadcaster that the headquarters had beefed up security in the aftermath of the attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead in Paris. The media park in Hilversum, home to many Dutch broadcasters, has been tightly guarded for years, since populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was gunned down in a parking lot there in 2002. 
 
 While the broadcaster was off-air, a screen on the NOS1 channel read "Please be patient" in Dutch. All staff were evacuated from the building as the situation unfolded and remained outside nearly two hours later as police searched the building. NOS resumed broadcasting from a studio in The Hague. 
 
 Staff at NOS led the man into a studio near the studio where the 8 p.m. news was to have been broadcast live. In the studio, he spoke to the security guard he had forced to take him into the offices. He never appeared live on television. 
 
 Calls to NOS offices in Hilversum, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Amsterdam, went unanswered Thursday night. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Mike Corder reported from The Hague. ||||| Police said a man who was shown on Dutch TV pacing back and forth in the network’s TV studio with what appeared to be a firearm was actually carrying a fake pistol. 
 
 In video posted online by the Dutch outlet NOS shortly after the incident today, the young man in a suit is shown holding what appears to be a pistol with a silencer attached as he speaks to someone off camera for several minutes in a NOS studio. Eventually, police can be heard entering the room and yelling at the man. He calmly drops the “pistol” and police take him into custody. 
 
 Earlier NOS had reported that its newsroom had been evacuated. The man had demanded airtime, the station said. No shots were reportedly fired and later, police told NOS the weapon was a fake.
– A strange drama unfolded today at Dutch national broadcaster NOS, where a young man clad in a suit and wielding what appeared to be a pistol demanded air time before being arrested, reports the BBC. Police later said the pistol was fake, reports ABC News. Authorities have identified the culprit only as a 19-year-old from the town of Pijnacker near the Hague. His apparent plan was to address the nation during the evening news broadcast, but Reuters credits a "quick-thinking security guard" with leading him into an empty studio instead. Video shows him pacing and complaining that "this is taking too long" before several officers enter the studio and arrest him without a struggle. While he was pacing, the man said, "The things that are going to be said (pause) those are very large world affairs. We were hired by the security service." He also had a letter threatening the detonation of radioactive bombs if he didn't get on the air. A NOS reporter said the man told him that he was from a "hackers' collective," without elaboration, reports AP. Though he didn't get on the air, the man did manage to disrupt the national news. Staffers fled the studio, and viewers instead saw a logo on their screens reading, "Please be patient." NOS was off the air about an hour.