đź”— Share this article Alleged Scheme to Attack Belgian Premier Foiled Belgian police have taken into custody three suspects accused of plotting an attack on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever. Federal prosecutors characterized the reported plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and other government officials. During searches conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, near the PM's personal dwelling, authorities uncovered a alleged improvised explosive device and indications that the accused were intending to use a unmanned aerial vehicle. While the intended targets of the attack were not disclosed by name by the prosecutor's office, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was among them. "Reports of a intended strike aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister stated in a post on X on Thursday. "It emphasizes that we are dealing with a serious terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he continued. The three individuals taken into custody on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and participation in the functions of a terrorist group all reside in Antwerp, according to the prosecutor's office. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007. On late Thursday, one person was released, while the remaining two were undergoing questioning and expected to be presented before a court on the following day. The prosecution revealed that the accused were arrested after a court official directed searches of their homes in the urban area by police officers supported by explosive sniffer dogs. Throughout these searches that they discovered a device which appeared to be an IED, legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on that day. Searches also uncovered a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she added. The prosecutor disclosed that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases opened in the country so far this year - more than the total number of instances in the previous year. During the spring, five people were sentenced for a previous year's plan to target the prime minister while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.