Yves Herman / Reuters
Belgian police arrested an adult and three minors on Sunday on suspicion of exchanging messages about the project. “terrorist attack”The federal prosecutor’s office responsible for the investigation confirmed.
Four youths, three minors “Late Adolescence” And an 18-year-old youth was arrested “In the course of searches carried out in Brussels, Nineveh, Charleroi and Liège”. Erik van der Sypt, spokesman for the prosecution, said. “They are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Belgium,” he added.
According to RTBF, Sunday’s arrest resulted from a police operation aimed at identifying people “Potentially violent and suspected of involvement in Islamist extremism”. “No weapons or explosives were found. Police have seized mobile phones and laptops for analysis. He added, confirming information from Belgian media RTBF and HLN.
“We don’t want to take any risks”
Messages were exchanged by all four suspects “Worrying enough for us to intervene and conduct a search”, Mr van der Sypt said. “It’s not like they were planning something for tomorrow, but it was imminent enough to intervene,” he added.
Relative youth of the suspects reinforced the mistrust of the authorities. “They are very flexible. If someone gives them a gun, for example, things can go very quickly. So we don’t want to take any risks.”, the spokesperson revealed. Four suspects are currently being questioned and the investigating judge will have to decide what action to take in the case.
Belgian authorities have been on high alert since the 2016 jihadist attacks carried out by suicide bombers that killed 32 people in explosions at Brussels airport and the city’s metro. Last October, a Tunisian gunned down two Swedish football fans in Brussels before being fatally shot by police.
