Alleged Scheme to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted
Belgium's police have detained three individuals accused of planning an strike on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever.
Federal prosecutors characterized the alleged plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and fellow politicians.
During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the prime minister's private residence, officials uncovered a alleged improvised explosive device and proof that the individuals were planning to deploy a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the planned victims of the assault were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was one of them.
"The news of a premeditated attack directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the official wrote in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.
"It emphasizes that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he continued.
The three people arrested on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the operations of a extremist organization all live in the city of Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were born in the early 2000s.
As of the evening of the arrests, one of the individuals was released, while two others were still being questioned and scheduled to be presented before a court on Friday.
The prosecution said that the suspects were detained after a court official authorized inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these searches that they discovered a device 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 container of metal spheres and a three-dimensional printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added.
Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in Belgium this year - surpassing the overall count of instances in the previous year.
Earlier this year, five suspects were convicted for a previous year's plan to attack the prime minister while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.
