Belgium's authorities have taken into custody three people accused of conspiring to carry out an assault on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.
Prosecutors described the suspected plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the prime minister and fellow elected representatives.
During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, close to the premier's private residence, officials found a alleged improvised explosive device and evidence that the suspects were planning to employ a unmanned aerial vehicle.
While the intended targets of the attack were not officially named by the prosecutor's office, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was included in the targets.
"The news of a intended strike aimed at PM Bart de Wever is profoundly disturbing," the official wrote in a post on X on the day of the arrests.
"This underscores that we are confronting a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to stay alert," he added.
The three people taken into custody on charges of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the operations of a extremist organization all are based in the Antwerp region, as stated by the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.
By late Thursday, one of the individuals was released, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to be presented before a court on Friday.
Legal authorities stated that the accused were detained after a magistrate directed raids of their dwellings in the city by officials supported by explosive sniffer dogs.
It was during these investigations that they discovered a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on the day of the events.
Searches also revealed a "bag of steel balls" and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.
Fransen disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country in the current year - exceeding the total number of investigations in 2024.
Earlier this year, five individuals were sentenced for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.
