Suspected Scheme to Target Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgian police have detained three people accused of plotting an assault on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the reported scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and other politicians.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the PM's private residence, authorities found a suspected IED and evidence that the individuals were preparing to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was one of them.
"Information of a planned assault targeting PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister wrote in a message on X on Thursday.
"It highlights that we are dealing with a serious extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded.
The three people taken into custody on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
By late Thursday, one suspect was freed, while the remaining two were under interrogation and likely to be presented before a court on Friday.
Legal authorities said that the accused were arrested after a magistrate authorized inspections of their residences in the urban area by officials backed by explosives-trained dogs.
It was during these investigations that they discovered a object which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on that day.
Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a 3D printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.
Fransen said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in the country this year - more than the total number of investigations in 2024.
In April, five people were sentenced for a previous year's plan to strike Belgium's leader while he was acting as the city's chief executive.
