Reported Scheme to Attack Belgian PM Prevented
Belgian authorities have detained three individuals accused of plotting an strike on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the suspected scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and additional politicians.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the prime minister's private residence, officials found a suspected IED and indications that the suspects were intending to use a drone.
While the planned victims of the strike were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was among them.
"Information of a premeditated strike directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister declared in a update on X on the investigation day.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three individuals arrested on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the operations of a jihadist network all reside in Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By Thursday evening, one of the individuals was freed, while the remaining two were under interrogation and expected to face a judge on the following day.
Legal authorities revealed that the individuals were taken into custody after a court official authorized inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by police officers backed by explosives-trained dogs.
Throughout these searches that they located a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on the day of the events.
Investigations also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The prosecutor disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in the nation this year - exceeding the full amount of investigations in the previous year.
During the spring, five people were convicted for a 2023 plot to target the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.