Alleged Scheme to Attack Belgian Premier Thwarted
Belgian police have taken into custody three people allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an attack on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the suspected plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and fellow elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the prime minister's home, officials uncovered a suspected IED and evidence that the suspects were intending to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the assault were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.
"Reports of a planned assault targeting Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the official stated in a message on X on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three people arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the activities of a extremist organization all live in the Antwerp region, according to the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On the evening of the arrests, one suspect was released, while two others were undergoing questioning and expected to be presented before a court on Friday.
Legal authorities said that the suspects were arrested after a judge ordered searches of their residences in the location by officials supported by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these searches that they located a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on Thursday.
Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The official disclosed that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in the country this year - more than the full amount of cases in last year.
During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a 2023 plot to target De Wever while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.
