Suspected Plan to Attack Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three individuals suspected of conspiring to carry out an strike on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the alleged plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and additional elected representatives.
During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the PM's personal dwelling, investigators discovered a alleged IED and proof that the suspects were planning to employ a drone.
While the planned victims of the assault were not officially named by the legal authorities, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was among them.
"Reports of a planned strike directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot wrote in a message on online platforms on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are facing a serious extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the activities of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By the evening of the arrests, one of the individuals was freed, while the other suspects were under interrogation and likely to face a judge on the next day.
The prosecution revealed that the suspects were detained after a judge directed searches of their residences in the location by police officers assisted by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these searches that they found a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Investigations also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added.
Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes launched in Belgium this year - surpassing the full amount of cases in 2024.
In April, five people were convicted for a 2023 plot to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.
