A Frenchman in the "advanced stages" of a plot to attack the country has been arrested north west of Paris as security forces including bomb squads locked down the area and mounted a major search.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said there were no links "at this stage" between the plot and the attacks against Brussels on Tuesday or Paris in November.

The raid took place in Argenteuil, on the northern outskirts of the French capital. Mr Cazeneuve said the suspect was implicated at a "high level" in the plot.

Witnesses said the immediate area was locked down, and residents were unable to return home for hours after the raid began.

France has been on high alert since the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and injured hundreds. Mr Cazeneuve said there had been 75 arrests since the beginning of the year, and 28 suspects had been jailed.

A 23-year-old Argenteuil resident described seeing heavily masked and armed officers surround the entrance to an apartment building before entering and emerging with the suspect, his head covered in a scarf.

"Police told us to get out of the way, it's dangerous," said the man, who would not give his name because of the tense situation in the neighbourhood.

"We are all shocked. We're asking us how this could have happened."