Alleged Plan to Attack Belgian Premier Prevented
Belgium's law enforcement have detained three suspects suspected of planning an strike on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors described the reported plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and additional politicians.
During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, in proximity to the prime minister's personal dwelling, authorities discovered a alleged improvised explosive device and evidence that the suspects were intending to deploy a UAV.
While the intended targets of the strike were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was among them.
"Reports of a premeditated assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the deputy prime minister wrote in a post on X on Thursday.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.
The three people detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the operations of a jihadist network all live in the city of Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
As of the evening of the arrests, one person was released, while two others were under interrogation and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution stated that the individuals were detained after a judge directed searches of their dwellings in the location by law enforcement assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these searches that they discovered a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on that day.
Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she noted.
Fransen said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the country so far this year - more than the overall count of investigations in the previous year.
During the spring, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to target the prime minister while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.
