Alleged Plot to Target Belgian PM Prevented

Belgian police have detained three people allegedly involved in plotting an assault on the country's PM, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities described the reported scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and fellow elected representatives.

During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the PM's home, investigators found a alleged homemade bomb and proof that the accused were preparing to use a UAV.

While the prospective targets of the attack were not officially named by the federal prosecutors, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot stated that Belgium's leader was among them.

"The news of a planned assault aimed at PM Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," Prevot declared in a message on social media on the investigation day.

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

The three suspects detained on suspicion of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the activities of a jihadist network all are based in the Antwerp region, per the legal authorities. They were had birth years in three different years between 2001 and 2007.

As of Thursday evening, one of the individuals was released, while two others were under interrogation and scheduled to face a judge on the following day.

Legal authorities said that the suspects were detained after a magistrate authorized inspections of their homes in the urban area by police officers supported by explosive sniffer dogs.

It was during these investigations that they located a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Raids also uncovered a container of metal spheres and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.

The prosecutor stated that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in Belgium this year - exceeding the full amount of instances in the previous year.

Earlier this year, five suspects were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike Belgium's leader while he was serving as Antwerp's mayor.