A 14-year-old boy with far-right sympathies planned to carry out an attack on mosque today (Friday 24 January). The news that police and the security service had thwarted an attack was disclosed by the Outgoing Federal Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal) in the Federal Parliament on Thursday.
Mr Van Tigchelt was replying to questions from Sam Van Rooy of the far-right party Vlaams Belang and the Flemish nationalist MP Darya Safai about minors’ involvement in terrorism cases. The boy comes from the Brussels municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, a municipality with a sizable Muslim population. The Brussels Prosecutor’s Office didn’t become aware of the boy’s plans until Wednesday.
In a statement the Prosecutor’s Office said that “This morning (Thursday), a search was conducted at the suspect's home. Among other things, weapons and computer equipment were seized there”. The boy was has been sent to a secure youth detention centre. Which mosque he had targeted is not clear.
"Worrying increase"
In parliament, Mr Van Tigchelt pointed to the rising number of minors that are becoming radicalised. “Currently, we see that 1 in 3 suspects in terror cases involving violence are minors. This is a worrying increase.”
The State Security Service says that over the past 3 years, the total number of radicalised minors has been several dozen. 3 out of 4 of radicalised minors support jihadist ideology, a quarter the ideology of the radical far-right.