🔗 Share this article Reported Scheme to Strike Belgian Premier Prevented Belgium's police have detained three individuals suspected of plotting an attack on the government's prime minister, Bart de Wever. Prosecutors described the reported plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the premier and additional government officials. During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the PM's home, investigators found a potential IED and indications that the individuals were intending to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the intended targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was among them. "The news of a intended attack targeting PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the deputy prime minister wrote in a message on X on the day of the arrests. "It highlights that we are confronting a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he continued. The three people detained on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007. By Thursday evening, one of the individuals was released, while the other suspects were undergoing questioning and expected to appear in court on Friday. Federal prosecutors said that the accused were arrested after a judge directed inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by officials assisted by explosive sniffer dogs. In the course of these investigations that they found a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on that day. Investigations also uncovered a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted. The official said that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in Belgium in the current year - exceeding the full amount of cases in 2024. Earlier this year, five suspects were found guilty for a scheme last year to target De Wever while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.