🔗 Share this article Alleged Plan to Target Belgian Premier Prevented Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three suspects suspected of planning an assault on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever. Prosecutors labeled the reported plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and additional government officials. During raids conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the PM's personal dwelling, officials uncovered a potential improvised explosive device and indications that the individuals were intending to employ a UAV. While the prospective targets of the attack were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot revealed that de Wever was included in the targets. "Information of a intended attack targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot wrote in a post on social media on the day of the arrests. "It highlights that we are confronting a serious terrorist threat and that we have to remain vigilant," he added. The three suspects taken into custody on charges of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the operations of a terrorist group all live in Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in the early 2000s. As of late Thursday, one of the individuals was let go, while the remaining two were under interrogation and scheduled to be presented before a court on the next day. Federal prosecutors said that the accused were detained after a magistrate directed raids of their homes in the city by officials assisted by explosives-trained dogs. Throughout these raids that they found a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on the day of the events. Searches also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted. The prosecutor said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in Belgium this year - exceeding the full amount of investigations in last year. In April, five individuals were convicted for a scheme last year to strike Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of Antwerp's mayor.