Madrid 'bomb' scare: Man arrested at Atocha train station after false threat

Suspect said he wasn't carrying explosives because he left them on the train

Police deviate traffic at the entrance to Madrid's Atocha railway station following a false alert when a man threatened to blow himself up. Police said a man claiming to be carrying a bomb in his backpack was arrested, but nothing was found (DANI POZO/AFP/Getty Images)

A bomb hoaxer has reportedly been arrested at a Madrid train station after claiming he had left a device on a train.

The man was taken in by Spanish police at Atocha station after saying he had left a rucksack containing explosives inside the carriage of a train travelling from Vallecas into the city's centre.

Passengers were evacuated before the train entered the station.

According to Spanish media reports, however, a bomb squad sent to the scene did not find any explosives left by the suspect.

La Vanguardia reported that only a bottle of water was found in the man's rucksack.

Later on Twitter the National Police Corps confirmed the threat had been a false one.

The station was evacuated but has since been reopened to the public.

On 11 March 2004 a series of bombs exploded on commuter rail service Cercanias Madrid, killing 191 people and injuring over 1,800 others. An official investigation into the attack found that it was carried out by an al-Qa'ida-inspired terrorist group.

In November 2007 21 men were found guilty of involvement in the mass killings. Among these, the Spanish court found three men guilty of mass murder and attempted murder, and sentenced them to individual jail terms of between 34,000 and 43,000 years.