🔗 Share this article Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Premier Prevented Belgium's authorities have arrested three suspects allegedly involved in plotting an attack on the nation's premier, Bart de Wever. Federal prosecutors labeled the suspected plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and additional elected representatives. During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, near the PM's home, officials discovered a alleged improvised explosive device and indications that the individuals were intending to use a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the prospective targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that de Wever was included in the targets. "Information of a premeditated strike aimed at PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister stated in a post on online platforms on the investigation day. "It emphasizes that we are confronting a genuine extremist danger and that we have to remain vigilant," he continued. The three people arrested on allegations of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the activities of a extremist organization all are based in the city of Antwerp, as stated by the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s. On the evening of the arrests, one suspect was let go, while two others were undergoing questioning and likely to appear in court on the next day. Federal prosecutors revealed that the accused were arrested after a judge authorized inspections of their homes in the urban area by officials backed by explosive sniffer dogs. Throughout these investigations that they located a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on the day of the events. Searches also revealed a container of metal spheres and a additive manufacturing device, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added. Fransen said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in Belgium in the current year - surpassing the overall count of instances in the previous year. In April, five individuals were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike Belgium's leader while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.