Alleged Plan to Attack Belgian Premier Thwarted
Belgian law enforcement have arrested three individuals suspected of conspiring to carry out an strike on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors labeled the reported scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and fellow government officials.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the prime minister's home, officials found a suspected homemade bomb and evidence that the individuals were planning to deploy a UAV.
While the planned victims of the strike were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.
"Information of a planned strike targeting PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official stated in a update on X on the investigation day.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three people arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the functions of a terrorist group all are based in the Antwerp region, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
As of late Thursday, one person was released, while the remaining two were under interrogation and likely to face a judge on the following day.
The prosecution revealed that the accused were arrested after a court official authorized searches of their residences in the urban area by officials assisted by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these investigations that they located a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Searches also found a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.
The official disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in Belgium in the current year - exceeding the total number of cases in 2024.
In April, five people were convicted for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.
