Reported Plot to Target Belgian PM Thwarted
Belgium's police have taken into custody three people accused of plotting an strike on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors characterized the reported plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and other elected representatives.
During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the prime minister's private residence, officials found a alleged improvised explosive device and indications that the suspects were intending to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the strike were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was among them.
"The news of a intended assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot declared in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"This underscores that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to remain vigilant," he added.
The three people arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the operations of a jihadist network all reside in the city of Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
As of late Thursday, one suspect was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and scheduled to appear in court on the following day.
Legal authorities revealed that the suspects were arrested after a magistrate authorized raids of their dwellings in the location by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these investigations that they located a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on that day.
Investigations also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.
The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes launched in the nation so far this year - exceeding the overall count of cases in the previous year.
During the spring, five suspects were sentenced for a previous year's plan to attack the prime minister while he was acting as the city's chief executive.
