Reported Plan to Target Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three individuals suspected of planning an assault on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities characterized the alleged plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and fellow politicians.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the PM's home, officials uncovered a suspected IED and indications that the accused were planning to use a drone.
While the intended targets of the strike were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was among them.
"Reports of a planned strike aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister wrote in a post on online platforms on the investigation day.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to remain vigilant," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in the early 2000s.
By late Thursday, one of the individuals was freed, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and scheduled to face a judge on the next day.
The prosecution stated that the accused were taken into custody after a court official directed inspections of their residences in the urban area by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.
Throughout these raids that they located a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on the day of the events.
Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.
Fransen said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in Belgium in the current year - exceeding the total number of cases in last year.
During the spring, five individuals were sentenced for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.
