Reported Plan to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Foiled
Belgium's authorities have taken into custody three suspects suspected of planning an assault on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors characterized the reported plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and other government officials.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the prime minister's personal dwelling, authorities discovered a alleged improvised explosive device and indications that the accused were intending to use a drone.
While the planned victims of the strike were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that Belgium's leader was included in the targets.
"The news of a intended attack targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot stated in a message on online platforms on Thursday.
"It highlights that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.
The three individuals detained on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the functions of a extremist organization all are based in Antwerp, according to the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one person was freed, while the remaining two were still being questioned and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.
Legal authorities said that the individuals were detained after a court official authorized raids of their homes in the urban area by law enforcement supported by explosives-trained dogs.
In the course of these investigations that they discovered a object which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", lead prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on that day.
Searches also found a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she added.
The official said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in the nation in the current year - surpassing the total number of investigations in the previous year.
In April, five individuals were sentenced for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.
