Suspected Scheme to Target Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgian authorities have arrested three suspects accused of conspiring to carry out an attack on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the reported plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and additional politicians.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the PM's private residence, authorities found a suspected improvised explosive device and proof that the accused were intending to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the strike were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.
"The news of a premeditated assault aimed at Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot stated in a message on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to remain vigilant," he added.
The three individuals arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the activities of a extremist organization all live in Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were born in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On late Thursday, one person was let go, while the other suspects were still being questioned and likely to be presented before a court on Friday.
Federal prosecutors said that the suspects were detained after a judge directed searches of their dwellings in the city by law enforcement backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these investigations that they discovered a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on the day of the events.
Searches also uncovered a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation in the current year - surpassing the total number of instances in last year.
In April, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.
