Reported Scheme to Strike Belgian Premier Foiled
Belgium's police have detained three suspects allegedly involved in plotting an strike on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors characterized the alleged scheme as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and other politicians.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the prime minister's personal dwelling, officials discovered a potential IED and indications that the suspects were planning to use a drone.
While the planned victims of the strike were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.
"Reports of a premeditated strike targeting Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the deputy prime minister stated in a message on online platforms on the investigation day.
"It highlights that we are confronting a serious terrorism risk and that we have to remain vigilant," he concluded.
The three people arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in the city of Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
As of Thursday evening, one suspect was let go, while two others were undergoing questioning and expected to face a judge on the next day.
Legal authorities stated that the accused were detained after a court official directed raids of their dwellings in the urban area by officials backed by bomb detection canines.
It was during these investigations that they found a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on Thursday.
Searches also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
Fransen stated that there had been 80 terrorism investigations initiated in the country in the current year - exceeding the overall count of instances in last year.
During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.
