Alleged Scheme to Strike Belgian PM Prevented
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three suspects suspected of planning an strike on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the suspected plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and fellow elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the prime minister's home, investigators found a alleged IED and evidence that the individuals were planning to deploy a drone.
While the intended targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was one of them.
"Reports of a intended strike directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot wrote in a post on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It highlights that we are dealing with a very real extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.
The three suspects taken into custody on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the activities of a terrorist group all reside in the Antwerp region, as stated by the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one person was released, while the other suspects were under interrogation and likely to be presented before a court on the next day.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the individuals were taken into custody after a judge ordered raids of their homes in the city by police officers assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these investigations that they found a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on that day.
Raids also revealed a collection of ball bearings and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.
Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation this year - more than the full amount of investigations in last year.
Earlier this year, five people were sentenced for a 2023 plot to attack De Wever while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.
