Suspected Scheme to Strike Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgian authorities have detained three suspects allegedly involved in planning an assault on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors labeled the suspected plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and additional elected representatives.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's home, authorities discovered a alleged homemade bomb and proof that the accused were planning to deploy a drone.
While the prospective targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was among them.
"Information of a intended assault aimed at Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister stated in a message on X on the investigation day.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a very real terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three individuals taken into custody on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the operations of a terrorist group all live in the city of Antwerp, per the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On late Thursday, one suspect was freed, while the remaining two were still being questioned and likely to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution stated that the individuals were taken into custody after a court official authorized searches of their residences in the city by officials assisted by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these raids that they discovered a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on Thursday.
Searches also revealed a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
Fransen said that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country so far this year - more than the full amount of cases in the previous year.
During the spring, five individuals were found guilty for a scheme last year to target the prime minister while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.
