Weil am Rhein, Germany  - German detectives have arrested a 22-year-old neo-Nazi on suspicion that he was planning to construct a bomb, police said Thursday.

While neo-Nazis have often faced charges of beating people up or setting off fires, bomb attacks are rare among far-right young German racists.

Acting on an anonymous tip-off, police picked up the man Wednesday in the town of Weil am Rhein in the south-west corner of Germany and seized chemical substances, guns and knives.

A newspaper, the Badische Zeitung, said the man was in the leadership of the Young National Democrats, the youth wing of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany. Police said only that he was an active rightist.

The man, who declined to be interviewed by detectives, was to appear at a remand hearing.(dpa)