Alleged Scheme to Target Belgian PM Prevented
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three individuals accused of plotting an attack on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the reported plot as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and other politicians.
During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the premier's private residence, authorities discovered a potential IED and proof that the individuals were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the prospective targets of the strike were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was one of them.
"The news of a premeditated attack directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister wrote in a message on X on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are confronting a serious extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three individuals detained on charges of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all live in the Antwerp region, as stated by the prosecutor's office. They were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
As of late Thursday, one person was let go, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and scheduled to be presented before a court on Friday.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the individuals were detained after a court official ordered inspections of their dwellings in the city by officials assisted by bomb detection canines.
Throughout these raids that they found a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Investigations also found a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.
The official disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation this year - exceeding the total number of instances in the previous year.
During the spring, five individuals were convicted for a 2023 plot to strike Belgium's leader while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.