Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted
Belgium's police have taken into custody three individuals accused of plotting an assault on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors described the reported scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and fellow politicians.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's home, officials found a alleged IED and indications that the individuals were planning to deploy a drone.
While the planned victims of the assault were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was one of them.
"Information of a premeditated strike directed toward PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot stated in a message on social media on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a serious terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three suspects detained on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group all live in the city of Antwerp, according to the legal authorities. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and scheduled to face a judge on Friday.
Federal prosecutors said that the suspects were arrested after a judge ordered inspections of their residences in the urban area by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these investigations that they found a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on Thursday.
Raids also found a "bag of steel balls" and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.
Fransen said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in the nation so far this year - more than the full amount of cases in the previous year.
In April, five suspects were sentenced for a previous year's plan to strike De Wever while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.
