Suspected Plot to Target Belgian Premier Prevented

Belgian police have taken into custody three suspects suspected of planning an strike on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors labeled the suspected plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and fellow elected representatives.

During raids conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the PM's home, officials uncovered a potential IED and indications that the suspects were planning to deploy a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.

"The news of a premeditated strike directed toward Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot stated in a update on online platforms on Thursday.

"It emphasizes that we are confronting a genuine extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he continued.

The three suspects taken into custody on charges of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the operations of a terrorist group all reside in Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in the early 2000s.

On Thursday evening, one person was released, while the remaining two were under interrogation and likely to face a judge on Friday.

The prosecution said that the individuals were detained after a magistrate directed searches of their residences in the city by law enforcement assisted by bomb detection canines.

Throughout these raids that they found a object which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on the day of the events.

Investigations also found a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued.

The prosecutor said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in Belgium in the current year - more than the full amount of investigations in 2024.

During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a 2023 plot to target Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.