Seven people suspected of being involved in the activities of a terrorist group have been arrested in several house searches across Belgium. First reports suggested the suspects were involved in preparing a terrorist attack.
The Antwerp Federal Judicial Police carried out 14 searches in nine different towns across Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders, at the request of an investigating judge specialising in terrorism as part of a file for the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The operation aimed to arrest several people suspected of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, financing terrorism and preparing a terrorist attack, local media reported.
The house searches were carried out in the city of Antwerp, Seraing, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Menin, Bourg-Léopold, Liège, Kortrijk, Ghent and Zonhoven. A total of seven people have been arrested and taken in for questioning.
The suspects will appear before an examining magistrate, who will decide whether to refer them for trial or place them under an arrest warrant.
Link to Olympics?
Belgium's general terrorist threat level has been set at 3 on a scale of 1 to 4, meaning that the threat is "possible and probable", since the terrorist attack in Brussels on 16 October, in which two Swedish nationals died. The country's Coordination Body for Threat Assessment (OCAD) raised the level from 2 to 3 for the first time in over five years. This was extended in November and the OCAD recently confirmed it will remain in place until at least September.
RTBF reported that the timing of the police intervention is at least partly linked to the Paris Olympic Games starting this week, for which the security services do not want to take any risks. However, the target of the attack that was being prepared has not yet been clarified, so there is nothing to indicate that the suspects planned to target the Olympics.
The French-speaking public broadcaster also noted that the arrests related to a potential Islamist threat, and that similar arrests were made simultaneously elsewhere in Europe. The threat from Islamist sources remains the biggest for Belgium (accounting for over 40% of threat reports).
This story is still developing and will be updated when more information is released.
