Suspected Plan to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgium's police have taken into custody three people accused of planning an assault on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the reported plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and additional government officials.
During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the prime minister's personal dwelling, authorities uncovered a alleged homemade bomb and indications that the individuals were planning to use a drone.
While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was one of them.
"The news of a intended attack aimed at PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister wrote in a update on social media on the investigation day.
"It highlights that we are confronting a very real terrorism risk and that we have to remain vigilant," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the activities of a terrorist group all live in the city of Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
As of late Thursday, one person was released, while the other suspects were undergoing questioning and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution stated that the accused were arrested after a judge ordered searches of their residences in the urban area by officials assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these raids that they discovered a object which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a news conference on the day of the events.
Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a 3D printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The prosecutor disclosed that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in the country so far this year - surpassing the total number of cases in the previous year.
During the spring, five suspects were convicted for a 2023 plot to target Belgium's leader while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.