Alleged Plot to Strike Belgian Premier Thwarted
Belgian authorities have taken into custody three suspects suspected of planning an attack on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities characterized the alleged plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and additional government officials.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's private residence, officials discovered a alleged IED and proof that the individuals were intending to use a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the strike were not officially named by the legal authorities, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot revealed that the prime minister was among them.
"Information of a intended attack directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the deputy prime minister wrote in a update on online platforms on the investigation day.
"It emphasizes that we are dealing with a very real terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded.
The three suspects arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the operations of a extremist organization all are based in the Antwerp region, according to the prosecutor's office. They were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By Thursday evening, one person was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on the following day.
Legal authorities said that the suspects were taken into custody after a judge authorized searches of their homes in the urban area by officials supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
Throughout these searches that they discovered a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on Thursday.
Investigations also uncovered a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added.
The official stated that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country so far this year - more than the overall count of cases in the previous year.
In April, five suspects were sentenced for a scheme last year to attack De Wever while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.