Officers opened fire on the man, believed to be a Frenchman of north African origin, after he began to shout in Arabic when the vehicle he was travelling in was intercepted at a motorway toll near La Jonquera on the Spanish side of the border.

He was hit in the leg and rushed to a nearby hospital.

He has undergone an operation at the hospital - the Doctor Josep Trueta University Hospital in Girona - and his life is not said to be in any danger.

Local reports said officers ordered him out of the car he was in after searching the woman driver - and became suspicious after seeing he had a ‘suspicious object’ by his waist. 

Civil Guard officers called for reinforcements from regional Mossos d’Esquadra police after he reportedly began shouting in Arabic, yelling the words ‘Allah is Great’, before getting back into the vehicle.

He is said to have been shot twice after and slumped to the ground after leaving the car - which had been surrounded by police - some 30 minutes later with an unidentified object in his hand.

He was arrested after managing to return to the vehicle a second time and throwing his clothes out of the window.

An investigation into the incident, which happened just after midnight today is now underway.  

Sources close to the inquiry said they were not probing it as a terror incident and believed the unidentified man may have been acting under the influence of drugs.

Two other people - a man and a woman - were in the vehicle with him. 

The injured man, who has been arrested, is expected to be quizzed by police when he is well enough.