AMSTERDAM, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Dutch authorities have arrested two people on suspicion of breaking laws in handling an oil tanker's toxic waste, which was later found in Ivory Coast and blamed for killing 10 people, prosecutors said on Friday.

"This week two arrests have been made. Both persons are currently being interrogated," Dutch prosecutors said in a statement on their Website.

An arrest warrant had also been issued for the ship's captain.

In July the ship Probo Koala, chartered by a Dutch oil freight company, wanted to dispose of hundreds of tonnes of chemical slops in Amsterdam but was told it would have to pay clean-up costs.

It then left Amsterdam and ended up in Ivory Coast. In August, toxic waste was found at open-air sites around the economic capital Abidjan, killing 10 people and causing vomiting, diarrhoea, nosebleeds and nausea among thousands.

Trafigura said on Tuesday it would pay a 100 billion CFA franc ($200 million) settlement to Ivory Coast, much of which will be used to reimburse costs the state incurred for removing the waste and treating those affected.

Two Trafigura executives were released from prison in Ivory Coast on Wednesday following the settlement, the company said. They had been held on charges relating to the dumping.

An Ivorian government investigation said that at least 10 people were killed and thousands poisoned by the toxic waste dumped around Abidjan after it was unloaded from the ship.

Neither Trafigura nor the Ivory Coast government accept any liability for August's events, the company has said.

Trafigura says it entrusted the waste to a state-registered Ivorian company, Tommy, which was set up shortly before the tanker which it chartered, the Panamanian-registered Probo Koala, arrived in Abidjan.

Dutch prosecutors said of its probe into the Dutch end of the affair:

"The investigation focuses mainly on three suspects: the ship's captain, oil freight company Trafigura Beheer BV and waste processor Amsterdam Port Services BV (APS)."

They said the captain and two companies are suspected of breaking rules on the transfer of waste, a law on preventing pollution by ships, and forgery, and documents had been confiscated from the companies.

Dutch media reported on Thursday the two arrested were APS employees but an APS spokesman said on Friday no employees had been detained.

A spokeswoman for Amsterdam city said prosecutors were looking at the city's role in the case, but gave no details.

Amsterdam contributed 300,000 euros ($394,200) to the U.N. Environmental Programme to help victims and clean up the toxic waste in Ivory coast, Amsterdam said on its Website on Thursday.

The Dutch government contributed another 700,000 euros to the UNEP fund.

A British court agreed earlier this month to hear a class action case brought against Trafigura by law firm Leigh Day & Co which is seeking cash compensation for what it estimates are around 4,000-5,000 people who were injured by the waste.

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