Reported Plot to Strike Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three suspects accused of planning an strike on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors described the suspected scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and fellow government officials.
During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the PM's personal dwelling, authorities uncovered a suspected improvised explosive device and indications that the individuals were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the prospective targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was one of them.
"Reports of a premeditated strike directed toward PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister wrote in a update on online platforms on Thursday.
"It highlights that we are confronting a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three people detained on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all live in the city of Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
As of late Thursday, one of the individuals was freed, while two others were under interrogation and scheduled to face a judge on the next day.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were detained after a judge authorized inspections of their residences in the city by law enforcement backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these raids that they found a object which appeared to be an IED, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Raids also uncovered a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.
Fransen stated that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country so far this year - exceeding the overall count of cases in last year.
Earlier this year, five suspects were sentenced for a scheme last year to strike De Wever while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
