Alleged Plot to Target Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three suspects suspected of conspiring to carry out an assault on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the alleged plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and other elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the PM's personal dwelling, authorities uncovered a alleged homemade bomb and proof that the individuals were intending to use a drone.
While the planned victims of the attack were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was included in the targets.
"The news of a intended assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot declared in a update on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.
The three people taken into custody on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all are based in Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one person was released, while two others were undergoing questioning and likely to appear in court on the following day.
Legal authorities stated that the suspects were detained after a court official directed searches of their dwellings in the city by law enforcement assisted by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these raids that they found a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", federal prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on Thursday.
Searches also revealed a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes launched in the country in the current year - surpassing the full amount of investigations in last year.
In April, five individuals were convicted for a previous year's plan to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of the city's chief executive.
