Suspected Plan to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgian law enforcement have detained three people accused of conspiring to carry out an attack on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the reported plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and fellow politicians.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the prime minister's personal dwelling, investigators discovered a suspected IED and proof that the suspects were intending to deploy a UAV.
While the planned victims of the strike were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was one of them.
"Information of a intended assault aimed at PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot declared in a message on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It highlights that we are facing a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.
The three suspects detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and engagement in the operations of a extremist organization all live in Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in the early 2000s.
On late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and expected to appear in court on the next day.
Federal prosecutors said that the individuals were taken into custody after a court official ordered searches of their dwellings in the location by law enforcement supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
In the course of these investigations that they located a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a news conference 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 noted.
The prosecutor stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the nation this year - more than the full amount of investigations in 2024.
During the spring, five people were convicted for a previous year's plan to target Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.