🔗 Share this article Suspected Plan to Target Belgian Prime Minister Thwarted Belgium's police have taken into custody three suspects suspected of planning an assault on the nation's PM, Bart de Wever. Prosecutors characterized the reported plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and fellow politicians. During raids conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the premier's personal dwelling, authorities discovered a potential homemade bomb and evidence that the accused were preparing to deploy a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the prospective targets of the assault were not officially named by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was included in the targets. "The news of a intended strike aimed at PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official wrote in a message on X on the day of the arrests. "This underscores that we are facing a very real extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he concluded. The three people arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the activities of a extremist organization all reside in the Antwerp region, according to the prosecutor's office. They were born in the early 2000s. As of late Thursday, one of the individuals was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and likely to appear in court on the next day. Legal authorities stated that the individuals were arrested after a judge directed searches of their dwellings in the city by officials backed by explosive sniffer dogs. In the course of these searches that they discovered a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on that day. Raids also revealed a container of metal spheres and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued. The prosecutor stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in the country this year - more than the full amount of cases in last year. Earlier this year, five individuals were convicted for a scheme last year to attack the prime minister while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.