Reported Plan to Attack Belgian Premier Thwarted
Belgian police have arrested three individuals allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an strike on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors described the suspected plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and additional politicians.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the prime minister's private residence, investigators discovered a potential improvised explosive device and evidence that the accused were planning to use a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was one of them.
"The news of a intended assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the official stated in a update on social media on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a very real extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three people detained on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the activities of a extremist organization all reside in the city of Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On the evening of the arrests, one person was freed, while the other suspects were undergoing questioning and likely to be presented before a court on Friday.
The prosecution revealed that the accused were detained after a magistrate ordered raids of their homes in the city by police officers backed by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these searches that they found a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen said at a press conference on Thursday.
Raids also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.
Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in Belgium this year - more than the total number of investigations in 2024.
Earlier this year, five people were sentenced for a 2023 plot to target the prime minister while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.
