Suspected Scheme to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted
Belgium's authorities have taken into custody three individuals allegedly involved in plotting an attack on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the suspected scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the prime minister and additional politicians.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the PM's personal dwelling, authorities discovered a suspected IED and evidence that the accused were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the assault were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was among them.
"Information of a premeditated assault targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister wrote in a update on online platforms on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are confronting a genuine extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three suspects detained on charges of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the functions of a jihadist network all reside in the city of Antwerp, according to the legal authorities. They were born in the early 2000s.
By Thursday evening, one of the individuals was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and likely to be presented before a court on the next day.
Legal authorities revealed that the accused were detained after a magistrate directed searches of their dwellings in the city by officials supported by explosives-trained dogs.
Throughout these investigations that they located a item which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.
Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The official stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the country so far this year - exceeding the total number of instances in last year.
During the spring, five individuals were sentenced for a 2023 plot to strike Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.
