Alleged Scheme to Attack Belgian PM Prevented
Belgium's police have taken into custody three people allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an strike on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the reported plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and other politicians.
During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, in proximity to the prime minister's private residence, investigators discovered a alleged homemade bomb and evidence that the individuals were preparing to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the attack were not officially named by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was among them.
"The news of a planned strike directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot wrote in a update on online platforms on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a genuine extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three people arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the functions of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
As of Thursday evening, one suspect was released, while two others were under interrogation and expected to face a judge on the following day.
Federal prosecutors said that the individuals were taken into custody after a judge ordered searches of their homes in the urban area by police officers assisted by bomb detection canines.
It was during these searches that they found a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on the day of the events.
Investigations also found a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.
The official disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in Belgium so far this year - more than the full amount of instances in 2024.
During the spring, five people were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
