Reported Plan to Attack Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's police have arrested three suspects allegedly involved in plotting an attack on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the suspected plot as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the prime minister and other politicians.
During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the prime minister's private residence, officials discovered a alleged improvised explosive device and proof that the accused were preparing to deploy a drone.
While the intended targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was included in the targets.
"Information of a intended assault directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister wrote in a update on X on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to remain vigilant," he continued.
The three suspects detained on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the operations of a terrorist group all live in Antwerp, as stated by the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
As of Thursday evening, one of the individuals was let go, while two others were under interrogation and likely to appear in court on the following day.
Legal authorities revealed that the suspects were arrested after a court official ordered inspections of their residences in the urban area by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these investigations that they discovered a item which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Searches also uncovered a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.
The prosecutor said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in Belgium in the current year - surpassing the full amount of cases in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five individuals were convicted for a previous year's plan to target the prime minister while he was serving as the city's chief executive.