A German special police unit has detained an alleged member of the Islamic State group in the south-western town of Mutterstadt.

The German news agency dpa reports that the 24-year-old asylum seeker, whose identity was not given, was detained after a tip from a prison inmate in the western city of Gelsenkirchen.

Dpa reported the information about the suspect came in connection with alleged threats against the German Bundesliga football league. It gave no further details, but said there was no imminent threat.

A spokesman for the interior ministry of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia told dpa initial reports that the suspect was a high-ranking member of IS could not be confirmed.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.