Suspected Plan to Target Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three individuals suspected of conspiring to carry out an assault on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities characterized the suspected plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and additional politicians.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the prime minister's personal dwelling, authorities discovered a alleged homemade bomb and proof that the suspects were planning to use a drone.
While the prospective targets of the strike were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was one of them.
"Reports of a intended strike directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot wrote in a post on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It highlights that we are dealing with a serious terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a extremist organization all reside in the Antwerp region, according to the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
On Thursday evening, one suspect was let go, while the remaining two were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on Friday.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were detained after a magistrate directed inspections of their residences in the urban area by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these searches that they found a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on that day.
Investigations also revealed a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in Belgium in the current year - exceeding the total number of cases in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to target De Wever while he was acting as the city's chief executive.
