Suspected Scheme to Attack Belgian Premier Thwarted
Belgian law enforcement have taken into custody three people suspected of conspiring to carry out an attack on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors characterized the alleged plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and other government officials.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the prime minister's private residence, officials uncovered a potential improvised explosive device and indications that the suspects were planning to use a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was one of them.
"Reports of a intended assault directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot wrote in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on charges of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the activities of a extremist organization all are based in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On late Thursday, one person was released, while the remaining two were under interrogation and expected to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution said that the accused were detained after a magistrate authorized searches of their residences in the location by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.
It was during these investigations that they found a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on that day.
Investigations also found a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.
Fransen stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in Belgium this year - surpassing the full amount of cases in the previous year.
During the spring, five people were sentenced for a 2023 plot to attack Belgium's leader while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.
