Reported Scheme to Attack Belgian PM Foiled
Belgium's law enforcement have detained three individuals allegedly involved in planning an assault on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.
Legal authorities labeled the reported plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and other government officials.
During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's home, investigators uncovered a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence that the accused were planning to deploy a UAV.
While the prospective targets of the strike were not officially named by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was among them.
"Reports of a planned assault aimed at PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official declared in a update on online platforms on the investigation day.
"This underscores that we are dealing with a serious terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three suspects taken into custody on charges of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the functions of a extremist organization all reside in Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
On the evening of the arrests, one person was let go, while the other suspects were under interrogation and scheduled to face a judge on the next day.
Federal prosecutors stated that the suspects were taken into custody after a judge ordered raids of their residences in the urban area by police officers supported by bomb detection canines.
In the course of these searches that they located a object which appeared to be an IED, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Investigations also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.
The official disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the country this year - surpassing the overall count of instances in last year.
In April, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to attack Belgium's leader while he was acting as the city's chief executive.
