Reported Plot to Target Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted
Belgian police have taken into custody three suspects suspected of conspiring to carry out an strike on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities characterized the suspected plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and fellow elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, in proximity to the PM's home, officials uncovered a suspected homemade bomb and evidence that the suspects were preparing to employ a UAV.
While the intended targets of the strike were not officially named by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that the prime minister was included in the targets.
"The news of a premeditated attack directed toward PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot stated in a message on online platforms on Thursday.
"This underscores that we are confronting a very real extremist danger and that we have to remain vigilant," he concluded.
The three people taken into custody on charges of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the operations of a extremist organization all live in the Antwerp region, according to the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one of the individuals was released, while the other suspects were under interrogation and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution said that the accused were taken into custody after a judge directed raids of their homes in the city by officials supported by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these investigations that they found a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on Thursday.
Investigations also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she noted.
The official disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation in the current year - surpassing the full amount of investigations in 2024.
During the spring, five suspects were convicted for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
