🔗 Share this article Alleged Scheme to Target Belgian Prime Minister Foiled Belgian authorities have detained three people suspected of planning an assault on the country's PM, Bart de Wever. Federal prosecutors described the suspected plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and other elected representatives. During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the PM's home, investigators discovered a alleged improvised explosive device and proof that the individuals were preparing to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the planned victims of the strike were not publicly identified by the legal authorities, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that Belgium's leader was among them. "Reports of a intended strike targeting Premier Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the official wrote in a update on X on the investigation day. "It emphasizes that we are dealing with a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded. The three individuals arrested on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a jihadist network all are based in Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in the early 2000s. By late Thursday, one of the individuals was released, while the other suspects were undergoing questioning and expected to appear in court on Friday. Legal authorities stated that the individuals were arrested after a court official authorized raids of their dwellings in the location by law enforcement supported by explosive sniffer dogs. Throughout these raids that they found a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on Thursday. Investigations also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she continued. The official disclosed that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in the country in the current year - surpassing the full amount of cases in the previous year. Earlier this year, five suspects were sentenced for a 2023 plot to attack the prime minister while he was holding the position of the city's chief executive.