The three regional headquarters of the bank Crelan in Anderlecht (Brussels), Gembloux (Namur Province) and in the Antwerp district of Berchem were evacuated on Monday morning after threats were sent to Crelan by email. A branch of Europabank, that is part Crelan, in Ghent (East Flanders) was also evacuated. In a statement Crelan said that “As the threats made are against Crelan and Europabank did not want to leave anything to chance”.
Crelan’s Caroline Beauvois told journalists that "This morning we received an email containing threats. Just to be certain we decided to let everyone work from home. And to evacuate our three headquarters. This is a general threat made against Crelan and Europabank. The person that made it is angry with us, but they said that they don't want to injure or kill anyone". According to the Brussels South Local Police Service a bomb threat was sent to the bank by email.
The evacuation of the offices went smoothly. "Everyone has been notified and our staff are now continuing to work from home. We are going to look at what we are going to do in the coming days”, Ms Beauvois said.
The police carried out a a sweep of the office buildings. Sniffer dogs were also deployed. In Anderlecht, the sweep has since been completed, and no explosives were found. Nevertheless, the office will remain closed as a precautionary measure.
Elsewhere, three branches of Crelan bank in Liège have also remained closed today (Monday 19 August). Although no specific threats have been made against the Liège branches of the banks it was decided to keep them closed as a precautionary measure.