Alleged Plot to Strike Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have arrested three people accused of conspiring to carry out an assault on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors characterized the alleged plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and additional elected representatives.
During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the prime minister's private residence, authorities found a suspected homemade bomb and proof that the suspects were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the assault were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that the prime minister was one of them.
"The news of a premeditated attack aimed at Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot stated in a post on online platforms on Thursday.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a very real terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three suspects detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the operations of a terrorist group all live in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
On late Thursday, one suspect was released, while two others were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on Friday.
The prosecution revealed that the suspects were detained after a magistrate directed raids of their dwellings in the city by police officers assisted by bomb detection canines.
Throughout these searches that they located a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a news conference on the day of the events.
Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she added.
The prosecutor said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the nation so far this year - surpassing the full amount of investigations in 2024.
In April, five people were convicted for a previous year's plan to target De Wever while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.
