Federal police have arrested three men on a bus travelling from Lille (France) to Brussels following a call from a fellow passenger who overheard them discussing carrying out an attack. The vehicle, passengers and luggage have been inspected.
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Flixbus passengers arrested after report of possible terrorist attack
Sally Tipper
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Three Flixbus passengers were arrested on Thursday after a fellow passenger overheard them discussing a possible terrorist attack and called the police.
The bus, which was travelling from Lille in France to Brussels, is being inspected by the army bomb disposal unit DOVO. Passengers were taken off the bus one by one and examined. Their luggage was also removed and inspected. About 40 people were travelling on the bus.
The presence of DOVO is standard practice and does not necessarily mean an explosive device has been found, the East Flanders public prosecutor says.
“The report was taken very seriously immediately,” police spokesperson An Berger told VRT. The bus was pulled off the road near Wetteren (East Flanders), and diverted to a police station. Three men were arrested. No details of the men have been released. Ms Berger: “We will now investigate further. We are taking this very seriously, but the outcome remains to be seen.”
The driver of the bus checked all passengers’ identity documents before they boarded and noted nothing suspicious.
