Reported Plot to Target Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three suspects allegedly involved in plotting an strike on the country's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the reported scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and other elected representatives.
During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the premier's private residence, authorities discovered a potential IED and evidence that the individuals were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was among them.
"Reports of a planned assault targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot wrote in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It highlights that we are confronting a serious extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded.
The three people taken into custody on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the functions of a extremist organization all reside in Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were born in the early 2000s.
By late Thursday, one suspect was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and scheduled to face a judge on Friday.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were arrested after a judge authorized inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by law enforcement assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these raids that they discovered a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on Thursday.
Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country in the current year - more than the total number of cases in 2024.
During the spring, five individuals were found guilty for a 2023 plot to attack the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
