🔗 Share this article Suspected Plot to Attack Belgian Prime Minister Foiled Belgium's authorities have arrested three individuals allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an strike on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever. Legal authorities labeled the alleged plan as a terrorist act motivated by jihadist ideology targeting the PM and additional government officials. During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the premier's personal dwelling, officials discovered a suspected IED and evidence that the individuals were preparing to deploy a UAV. While the intended targets of the attack were not publicly identified by the federal prosecutors, Vice Premier Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was included in the targets. "Information of a intended assault targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official declared in a message on online platforms on the investigation day. "This underscores that we are confronting a serious terrorism risk and that we have to stay alert," he concluded. The three people taken into custody on charges of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the activities of a jihadist network all are based in the city of Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were born in three different years between 2001 and 2007. As of late Thursday, one person was freed, while the other suspects were still being questioned and scheduled to be presented before a court on the next day. The prosecution stated that the accused were taken into custody after a magistrate directed inspections of their homes in the location by law enforcement assisted by explosive sniffer dogs. It was during these investigations that they found a item which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on the day of the events. Raids also uncovered a container of metal spheres and a 3D printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she continued. The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 extremist probes opened in the nation so far this year - surpassing the overall count of instances in the previous year. Earlier this year, five people were sentenced for a previous year's plan to target De Wever while he was holding the position of the city's chief executive.