Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Premier Thwarted

Belgian law enforcement have arrested three individuals accused of plotting an strike on the government's premier, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors characterized the suspected plot as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the prime minister and other government officials.

During investigations conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister's personal dwelling, officials found a potential homemade bomb and proof that the accused were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the prospective targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the federal prosecutors, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that the prime minister was included in the targets.

"Information of a premeditated assault targeting Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot declared in a post on social media on the investigation day.

"It emphasizes that we are confronting a genuine terrorist threat and that we have to keep watchful," he added.

The three suspects arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the functions of a terrorist group all reside in the city of Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.

By late Thursday, one suspect was released, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and likely to be presented before a court on Friday.

The prosecution said that the accused were taken into custody after a court official directed inspections of their dwellings in the city by officials backed by explosive sniffer dogs.

Throughout these investigations that they located a device which appeared to be an IED, lead prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a media briefing on that day.

Raids also found a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she added.

The official said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations launched in Belgium this year - more than the overall count of instances in last year.

During the spring, five people were found guilty for a previous year's plan to attack De Wever while he was acting as the city's chief executive.