Reported Plan to Strike Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgian police have detained three suspects allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an attack on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the reported plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and additional politicians.
During investigations conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the prime minister's home, authorities discovered a suspected homemade bomb and indications that the suspects were planning to use a UAV.
While the intended targets of the strike were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was one of them.
"Information of a premeditated attack aimed at PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister stated in a post on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a serious terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three people arrested on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the activities of a terrorist group all reside in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the legal authorities. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
As of the evening of the arrests, one suspect was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
Legal authorities revealed that the accused were arrested after a court official authorized searches of their homes in the location by police officers supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these searches that they located a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", federal prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Raids also revealed a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.
The prosecutor said that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country in the current year - exceeding the full amount of investigations in 2024.
Earlier this year, five people were found guilty for a previous year's plan to target De Wever while he was holding the position of the city's chief executive.
