This Sunday, Belgian police arrested an adult and three minors suspected of exchanging messages about a plan to attack Belgium, the federal prosecutor’s office responsible for the investigation told Agence France-Presse.
Four suspects, three minors and an 18-year-old, were detained during searches in Brussels, Ninov, Charleroi and Liege, said Eric Van der Cypt, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.
“They are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Belgium,” he added.
According to RTBF, Sunday’s arrests were the result of a police operation aimed at identifying “potentially violent individuals suspected of links to Islamic extremism.”
However, no weapons or explosives were found. Police seized cell phones and laptops for analysis, he said, confirming information from Belgian media RTBF and HLN.
The messages exchanged between the four suspects were “alarming enough to warrant intervention and a search”, Van der Sypt said.
“It’s not like they were planning anything for tomorrow, but it was imminent enough for us to intervene,” he stressed.
The relative youth of the suspects increases distrust of the authorities. “They are very flexible. If someone gives them a gun, for example, things can happen very, very quickly. So we don’t want to take any risks,” the spokesman said.
The four suspects are being questioned by an investigator who will decide on enforcement measures.
Belgian authorities have been on high alert since jihadist suicide bombings in 2016 killed 32 people at Brussels airport and the city’s metro.
In October 2023, a Tunisian shot two Swedish football fans in Brussels before being shot dead by police.