UAE authorities have issued orders to arrest a group with alleged links to foreign political organisations for threatening state security, according to state-owned Emirates News Agency (Wam).

“The Public Prosecution is undertaking investigations into a group of people who established and ran an organisation which aims to commit crimes against the security and constitution of the country and the basic principles of rule and who also have connections with foreign organisations and agendas,” reported Wam.

Public Prosecutor Salim Saeed al-Kubaish has called for the group to be arrested, put into custody and interrogated.

“The investigations are underway to expose the conspiracy of this organisation and its members in full,” he added.

One of the arrest warrants is thought to be for lawyer and activist Mohammed al-Mansouri, according to prominent social media activists in the UAE.

The UAE has been quick to clamp down on any signs of anti-state activism in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, which led to the fall of four governments in the Middle East and North Africa.

Dubai police chief Dahi Kalfan has branded the Muslim Brotherhood – the political organisation which backs the new government of Egypt – as “thugs”, saying they are not welcome in the emirate.

Earlier this year, the UAE detained six activists after revoking their citizenship for allegedly insulting the country’s rulers.