Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Prevented
Belgian law enforcement have arrested three people allegedly involved in plotting an strike on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the alleged scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and additional politicians.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the PM's personal dwelling, officials found a suspected IED and evidence that the individuals were intending to employ a drone.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not officially named by the legal authorities, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that Belgium's leader was among them.
"The news of a premeditated strike targeting PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot declared in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are dealing with a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three people taken into custody on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the functions of a jihadist network all reside in the Antwerp region, according to the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
As of the evening of the arrests, one suspect was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and scheduled to appear in court on the next day.
Legal authorities revealed that the individuals were detained after a magistrate ordered raids of their residences in the urban area by police officers assisted by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these raids that they located a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on that day.
Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The official said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation in the current year - more than the full amount of instances in last year.
During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a 2023 plot to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.
