Three minors and an 18-year-old adult have been arrested during an anti-terror operation in Brussels, Charleroi and Liège at the weekend. One of the minors is barely 15 years old. The suspects are said to be extremist Muslims, who were allegedly busy planning a terror attack.
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Adult and 3 minors arrested for allegedly planning terrorist attack
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Raids were carried out in Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi and Liège. Four people were arrested for questioning, including three minors. They are suspected of preparing a terrorist attack, says Eric Van Der Sypt of the federal public prosecutor's office. "These are people with a jihadist background," he added.
One of the minors arrested in Brussels lived in Ninove (East Flanders) and is barely 15 years old says local mayor Tania De Jonge (Flemish liberal/Open VLD). According to her, the young man had only lived in Ninove for a few months. It was not clear whether he was also attending school there. If he is released, he will receive follow-up via the local security cell.
The 2 other minors are said to be at least 16 years old, but more details are lacking for now. The adult suspect is 18 years old.
"The suspects are very young. Unfortunately, this is a confirmation of the current threat," said Belgian justice minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal/Open VLD). "It is not the first time that we see young people being radicalised very quickly, especially through social media and closed communication groups."
Unclear how concrete attack plans were
It is not clear exactly how concrete the plans for an attack were, "but they were at least concrete enough to intervene," says Eric Van Der Sypt. "In dossiers like that, we would rather act too early than too late."
Minister Van Tigchelt agrees. "From the moment our security services become aware of any attack plans, nothing is left to chance and we intervene immediately. Afterwards, it is examined to what extent these plans were already advanced."
According to VRT’s legal affairs journalist Philip Heymans, it had not yet been decided against whom and against what exactly the attack would take place, "but on the other hand there was talk that they wanted to strike soon".
No weapons or explosives found
The suspects were in contact with each other through a chat group. No weapons or explosives were found during the searches, but laptops, mobile phones, computers and other items were seized by the police.
The four are being questioned. The examining judge will later decide what happens to the adult suspect, while a juvenile judge will decide on what happens to the 3 minors.
OCAD, the body that assesses the terrorist threat in Belgium, had the general threat level in Belgium set at 3 after the attack against Swedish football supporters a few months ago (and it has not yet changed). That means an attack is possible and likely.