Kristian Vikernes, who is reportedly a sympathiser of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, was arrested by intelligence officers at dawn at his home in the central city of Salon-la-Tour, as was his French wife Marie Cachet, 25.
According to the ministry, the 40-year-old who goes by the stage name "Varg" is "close to the neo-Nazi movement" and could have been preparing a "major terrorist act."
Vikernes, who was once sentenced to 21 years in prison in Norway for stabbing to death one of his friends, had been under surveillance for several years.
Vikernes reportedly sympathised with Breivik, who is being held in isolation in a high security prison near Oslo for killing 77 people in twin attacks in 2011.