🔗 Share this article Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian PM Thwarted Belgium's police have arrested three individuals accused of planning an attack on the government's PM, Bart de Wever. Federal prosecutors characterized the alleged plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and additional elected representatives. During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the PM's home, authorities discovered a suspected IED and proof that the accused were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was one of them. "Information of a premeditated assault aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official declared in a post on online platforms on the day of the arrests. "It emphasizes that we are confronting a very real extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he continued. The three suspects arrested on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the operations of a terrorist group all live in Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007. On late Thursday, one person was let go, while the remaining two were under interrogation and scheduled to face a judge on Friday. Legal authorities revealed that the individuals were taken into custody after a judge authorized searches of their residences in the location by officials supported by explosive sniffer dogs. Throughout these investigations that they found a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on Thursday. Raids also found a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added. Fransen said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in the country this year - surpassing the total number of investigations in last year. Earlier this year, five individuals were convicted for a 2023 plot to target Belgium's leader while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.