Suspected Scheme to Target Belgian Prime Minister Prevented
Belgian police have taken into custody three individuals allegedly involved in planning an attack on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors described the alleged scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and fellow elected representatives.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's private residence, authorities uncovered a suspected improvised explosive device and proof that the suspects were intending to employ 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 among them.
"Information of a planned assault aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot wrote in a message on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"This underscores that we are confronting a very real extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three individuals detained on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the functions of a terrorist group all reside in Antwerp, as stated by the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By Thursday evening, one suspect was let go, while the remaining two were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on Friday.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were arrested after a judge directed inspections of their dwellings in the location by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these raids that they located a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Raids also revealed a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, 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 initiated in the nation so far this year - surpassing the full amount of instances in 2024.
In April, five people were found guilty for a previous year's plan to target the prime minister while he was serving as the city's chief executive.
