Reported Plan to Strike Belgian PM Prevented
Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three people suspected of planning an attack on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the reported plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and additional elected representatives.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the PM's personal dwelling, officials found a suspected improvised explosive device and proof that the suspects were preparing to deploy a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was among them.
"Information of a intended strike aimed at PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official stated in a message on X on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are confronting a genuine extremist danger and that we have to remain vigilant," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the activities of a extremist organization all reside in the Antwerp region, per the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On Thursday evening, one person was released, while the remaining two were still being questioned and expected to be presented before a court on the next day.
Legal authorities revealed that the suspects were taken into custody after a judge authorized inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these searches that they found a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on that day.
Raids 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 added.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the nation this year - surpassing the full amount of instances in the previous year.
During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was serving as the city's chief executive.