Alleged Plan to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three people suspected of planning an attack on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the reported plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and other government officials.
During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the prime minister's personal dwelling, investigators uncovered a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence that the accused were intending to employ a drone.
While the planned victims of the attack were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was included in the targets.
"Reports of a premeditated strike targeting PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister declared in a update on social media on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three individuals detained on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the functions of a extremist organization all are based in the city of Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
As of Thursday evening, one suspect was freed, while the remaining two were under interrogation and likely to be presented before a court on the next day.
Federal prosecutors stated that the accused were arrested after a court official directed inspections of their dwellings in the city by law enforcement backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these searches that they found a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on Thursday.
Searches also found a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.
Fransen stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the nation in the current year - exceeding the full amount of instances in 2024.
Earlier this year, five suspects were sentenced for a previous year's plan to target Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of the city's chief executive.
