Suspected Plan to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted

Belgian police have detained three suspects allegedly involved in planning an attack on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities described the alleged plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the prime minister and fellow politicians.

During raids conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the premier's home, officials discovered a suspected IED and evidence that the individuals were preparing to use a drone.

While the intended targets of the strike were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was among them.

"The news of a planned assault targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister stated in a post on X on Thursday.

"It emphasizes that we are dealing with a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he continued.

The three people detained on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a jihadist network all reside in the Antwerp region, as stated by the legal authorities. They were with years of birth in three different years between 2001 and 2007.

By late Thursday, one person was freed, while two others were still being questioned and expected to be presented before a court on Friday.

Legal authorities revealed that the accused were arrested after a judge directed searches of their residences in the urban area by officials backed by bomb detection canines.

Throughout these searches that they found a item which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on that day.

Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.

Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes launched in the nation in the current year - more than the overall count of instances in 2024.

During the spring, five suspects were sentenced for a 2023 plot to attack De Wever while he was acting as the mayor of Antwerp.