Reported Plan to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgium's authorities have taken into custody three individuals accused of plotting an strike on the country's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the alleged scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and other politicians.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the premier's private residence, authorities discovered a potential homemade bomb and proof that the accused were intending to deploy a drone.
While the intended targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was among them.
"Reports of a intended attack directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot declared in a update on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"This underscores that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to remain vigilant," he concluded.
The three individuals detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all reside in the Antwerp region, per the legal authorities. They were had birth years in the early 2000s.
As of late Thursday, one suspect was released, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and likely to appear in court on the next day.
Legal authorities revealed that the individuals were detained after a judge ordered raids of their residences in the urban area by law enforcement supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these investigations that they found a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Investigations also revealed a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.
The official said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in Belgium this year - more than the overall count of investigations in 2024.
Earlier this year, five individuals were sentenced for a 2023 plot to strike De Wever while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.
