Belgium: Suspected jihadist drone plot against Prime Minister Bart De Wever foiled

Police in Belgium have arrested three people suspected of plotting an attack on the country’s prime minister, Bart De Wever.

The alleged plot was described by prosecutors as a “jihadist-inspired terrorist attack” on the PM and other politicians.

Authorities found a suspected improvised explosive device and evidence the suspects were planning to use a drone during searches in Deurne, Antwerp, close to the prime minister’s private residence.

The intended targets of the attack were not named by the prosecutor’s office, but Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot said De Wever was among them.

“The news of a planned attack targeting Prime Minister Bart De Wever is extremely shocking,” Prevot wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

“It highlights that we are facing a very real terrorist threat and that we have to remain vigilant,” he added.

Flemish reports later suggested that Antwerp Mayor Els van Doesburg may also have been targeted. Dutch anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders decided not to take part in an election debate on Dutch radio, because of reports that he too may have been a target.

Defence Minister Theo Francken was unable to confirm whether anyone else had been targeted, but said he knew that he was not.

Francken told Flemish public broadcaster VRT “it is terrible for Bart and his family, and of course it’s Islamists again”.

The minister added that drone technology presented great opportunities but also presented risks and they were becoming “more and more dangerous”.

Ann Lukowiak, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor, said this was the first time there were indications that Belgium could be targeted with a drone, “although the phenomenon was already there in neighbouring countries”.

The three individuals who were arrested on suspicion of attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group all live in Antwerp, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The suspects were born in 2001, 2002 and 2007 and one of them has since been released. Belgian reports say the eldest was freed on Thursday night due to lack of evidence.

The two others were still being questioned and were expected to appear before an investigating judge on Friday.

Federal prosecutors said they were taken into custody after a judge ordered searches of their homes in the city by police officers backed by explosive sniffer dogs.

It was during these searches that they discovered a device which “bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device,” federal prosecutor Ann Fransen said at a press conference on Thursday.

Searches also uncovered a “bag of steel balls” and a 3D printer, with “indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload,” she added.

Fransen said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in Belgium this year – more than the total number of cases in 2024.

In April, five people were convicted of a 2023 plot to attack De Wever while he was serving as Antwerp’s mayor.

Arriving at the prime minister’s office in Brussels on Friday, De Wever gave a thumbs-up to reporters. He then sought to make light of the situation, posting a picture of himself on Instagram while sitting on his office sofa with his grey cat Maximus.

“Maximus, can you catch a drone?” De Wever wrote in a speech bubble. “Catch a dream?,” the cat answers, “I’m up there with the best of them.”