Moroccan arrested in connection with Belgian school bomb alert

 Belgian and Moroccan police have arrested in Morocco a suspect in an extortion case that led to the closing of schools in Belgium due to a bomb alert, the country's prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

The Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement administration body on Monday shut at least 27 schools in Brussels and the neighbouring Brabant region after a bomb alert on Sunday evening.

Belgian media reported that the sender of the alert had demanded 10 million euros to reveal the location of five bombs.

"The arrested person, who is of Moroccan nationality, was questioned and admitted the deeds to the Moroccan authorities. The investigation's initial conclusions do not point to terrorist motives," the office said in an e-mailed statement.

The prosecutor's office in Brussels said it was continuing the investigation in cooperation with Moroccan authorities to find out the suspect's motives.

The schools reopened on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski, editing by Ed Osmond)