Suspected Scheme to Attack Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three people allegedly involved in planning an assault on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the alleged plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and fellow government officials.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the prime minister's home, investigators uncovered a suspected homemade bomb and proof that the suspects were preparing to use a UAV.
While the intended targets of the assault were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that the prime minister was among them.
"Information of a planned assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister wrote in a message on online platforms on Thursday.
"This underscores that we are facing a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three people detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a jihadist network all are based in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By the evening of the arrests, one suspect was freed, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
The prosecution stated that the individuals were detained after a magistrate directed raids of their residences in the city by police officers backed by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these searches that they located a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on Thursday.
Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The official said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in Belgium this year - more than the overall count of instances in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five individuals were convicted for a 2023 plot to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.