Suspected Plot to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Prevented

Belgium's police have arrested three people accused of planning an assault on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors described the alleged plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the prime minister and other government officials.

During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the PM's home, investigators uncovered a alleged homemade bomb and indications that the accused were intending to deploy a UAV.

While the intended targets of the attack were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was one of them.

"The news of a premeditated assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot declared in a post on X on Thursday.

"This underscores that we are dealing with a very real terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he continued.

The three people taken into custody on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the activities of a jihadist network all live in the Antwerp region, per the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.

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

Legal authorities stated that the individuals were arrested after a court official directed inspections of their dwellings in the city by officials backed by bomb detection canines.

Throughout these investigations that they located a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a news conference on Thursday.

Investigations also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued.

The prosecutor stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in Belgium this year - more than the overall count of cases in last year.

In April, five people were sentenced for a scheme last year to target the prime minister while he was acting as the city's chief executive.