🔗 Share this article

Belgian authorities have taken into custody three suspects allegedly involved in planning an assault on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities labeled the reported scheme as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the premier and other politicians.

During investigations conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the premier's home, investigators found a suspected improvised explosive device and indications that the suspects were preparing to use a drone.

While the prospective targets of the strike were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was among them.

"The news of a premeditated attack targeting Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot stated in a message on online platforms on the day of the arrests.

"It emphasizes that we are facing a serious terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.

The three people taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the operations of a terrorist group all are based in Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007.

As of late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to be presented before a court on the next day.

The prosecution stated that the individuals were detained after a magistrate authorized searches of their dwellings in the city by officials supported by explosives-trained dogs.

It was during these investigations that they discovered a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen said at a news conference on the day of the events.

Investigations also uncovered a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she noted.

The official said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in Belgium so far this year - exceeding the total number of cases in 2024.

During the spring, five suspects were sentenced for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.