Alleged Scheme to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Prevented
Belgian authorities have taken into custody three individuals allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an attack on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the reported plot as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and additional elected representatives.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's private residence, investigators uncovered a potential homemade bomb and evidence that the accused were intending to use a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was among them.
"Reports of a premeditated assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the official declared in a update on X on Thursday.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a serious extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three suspects arrested on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the functions of a jihadist network all live in the Antwerp region, per the legal authorities. They were born in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
As of late Thursday, one suspect was freed, while the other suspects were under interrogation and expected to appear in court on Friday.
Legal authorities stated that the individuals were arrested after a judge ordered raids of their homes in the location by officials assisted by explosives-trained dogs.
It was during these raids that they located a object which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on that day.
Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
The official said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in Belgium this year - more than the overall count of investigations in 2024.
In April, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.
