Reported Plot to Attack Belgian Premier Foiled
Belgian police have arrested three suspects suspected of plotting an assault on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities described the alleged plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and fellow government officials.
During investigations conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the premier's home, investigators found a alleged IED and evidence that the suspects were planning to deploy a drone.
While the intended targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was among them.
"Information of a planned assault directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official declared in a message on online platforms on Thursday.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a serious terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he added.
The three individuals arrested on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the operations of a extremist organization all live in the Antwerp region, per the legal authorities. They were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
On late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to be presented before a court on Friday.
Legal authorities said that the accused were detained after a court official authorized inspections of their dwellings in the location by law enforcement supported by explosives-trained dogs.
Throughout these investigations that they discovered a object which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen said at a news conference on that day.
Investigations also found a container of metal spheres and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.
Fransen stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the nation this year - exceeding the overall count of cases in last year.
In April, five people were convicted for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
