Reported Scheme to Target Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgian law enforcement have taken into custody three suspects suspected of conspiring to carry out an strike on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors described the alleged plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and additional government officials.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the prime minister's private residence, officials found a potential IED and indications that the accused were planning to use a UAV.
While the planned victims of the assault were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was one of them.
"The news of a planned assault targeting PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot stated in a update on social media on Thursday.
"It highlights that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to remain vigilant," he concluded.
The three people detained on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a terrorist group all live in the Antwerp region, according to the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By the evening of the arrests, one of the individuals was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and likely to appear in court on Friday.
Legal authorities stated that the accused were detained after a magistrate authorized searches of their residences in the urban area by police officers supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these investigations that they located a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on that day.
Searches 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 added.
Fransen said that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the country in the current year - more than the total number of cases in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five suspects were found guilty for a previous year's plan to target De Wever while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.
