Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Prevented
Belgium's authorities have arrested three people allegedly involved in plotting an attack on the country's premier, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors described the suspected scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and additional government officials.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the premier's private residence, investigators uncovered a suspected homemade bomb and evidence that the suspects were planning to employ a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was included in the targets.
"Information of a premeditated assault aimed at Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official wrote in a update on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are dealing with a serious extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the functions of a extremist organization all live in the Antwerp region, per the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
As of late Thursday, one suspect was released, while the other suspects were undergoing questioning and expected to appear in court on the following day.
The prosecution revealed that the accused were taken into custody after a magistrate authorized raids of their dwellings in the city by officials assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these raids that they found a object which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Searches also uncovered a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The prosecutor said that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the nation so far this year - more than the overall count of instances in the previous year.
In April, five individuals 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.
