Reported Plot to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted
Belgium's authorities have arrested three individuals suspected of planning an attack on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors described the alleged plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and other government officials.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the PM's private residence, investigators discovered a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence that the individuals were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the strike were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was included in the targets.
"Reports of a intended strike targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister stated in a update on online platforms on the investigation day.
"It highlights that we are dealing with a very real terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three suspects taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a terrorist group all are based in Antwerp, as stated by the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to be presented before a court on the next day.
The prosecution revealed that the accused were taken into custody after a magistrate directed raids of their homes in the urban area by officials backed by bomb detection canines.
It was during these investigations that they discovered a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on the day of the events.
Searches also uncovered a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.
The prosecutor disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in the nation in the current year - surpassing the full amount of cases in 2024.
Earlier this year, five individuals were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike De Wever while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.
