Belgian state broadcaster VRT says that Catalan ex-president Carles Puigdemont and four other former regional ministers have turned themselves in to police in Brussels.

VRT says that all five have arrived at the Brussels prosecutor's office. The prosecutor is due to make a statement shortly about a European arrest warrant issued for Puigdemont and the other four as Spain seeks their return for an investigation related to Catalonia's independence bid.

They had fled to Belgium this week after being removed from power by Spanish authorities as part of an extraordinary crackdown to impede the region's illegal declaration of independence.

Federal prosecutors in Belgium had said on Saturday that they were studying the warrants and that they had shared them with city counterparts in Brussels.