Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's authorities have arrested three suspects allegedly involved in planning an strike on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities characterized the alleged plot as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and other elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the premier's personal dwelling, investigators uncovered a alleged IED and proof that the accused were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the strike were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was included in the targets.
"Information of a premeditated strike targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the official declared in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a serious terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.
The three individuals taken into custody on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were born in the early 2000s.
By Thursday evening, one suspect was freed, while the remaining two were under interrogation and expected to face a judge on the next day.
Federal prosecutors stated that the suspects were detained after a court official authorized inspections of their residences in the urban area by law enforcement supported by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these searches that they located a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on Thursday.
Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.
Fransen stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the nation so far this year - surpassing the overall count of instances in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five suspects were convicted for a scheme last year to attack the prime minister while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.
