Reported Plot to Attack Belgian PM Prevented
Belgium's police have detained three people suspected of plotting an attack on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors labeled the reported scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and fellow politicians.
During raids conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the premier's private residence, officials discovered a suspected IED and proof that the accused were preparing to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the attack were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was included in the targets.
"Reports of a premeditated assault targeting Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot declared in a post on online platforms on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are facing a very real terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded.
The three individuals detained on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in the city of Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.
On the evening of the arrests, one of the individuals was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on the following day.
Legal authorities stated that the individuals were taken into custody after a magistrate ordered raids of their residences in the location by law enforcement assisted by bomb detection canines.
It was during these searches that they located a object which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on the day of the events.
Investigations also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she noted.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in Belgium in the current year - more than the full amount of cases in last year.
During the spring, five people were found guilty for a scheme last year to strike Belgium's leader while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.
