🔗 Share this article Reported Scheme to Strike Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted Belgian authorities have taken into custody three suspects allegedly involved in planning an strike on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever. Legal authorities characterized the reported plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and other politicians. During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, in proximity to the premier's home, officials uncovered a potential improvised explosive device and proof that the accused were preparing to deploy a drone. While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that the prime minister was included in the targets. "The news of a premeditated strike directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," Prevot stated in a post on social media on the day of the arrests. "It highlights that we are confronting a very real terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he added. The three people taken into custody on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and participation in the functions of a jihadist network all are based in the city of Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007. On the evening of the arrests, one person was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and expected to face a judge on Friday. Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were arrested after a judge ordered searches of their homes in the location by officials backed by explosive sniffer dogs. In the course of these investigations that they found a device which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen said at a news conference on that day. Searches also revealed a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted. Fransen said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in Belgium in the current year - more than the full amount of investigations in 2024. In April, five individuals were sentenced for a 2023 plot to strike Belgium's leader while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.