Four of the five suspects detained in Antwerp following a major anti-terror operation on Monday evening were charged with attempted terrorist murder, without even appearing in front of a judge on Wednesday, VRT NWS reports.
Set to appear before the investigative judge in the Flemish city on Wednesday, the case's investigators decided to place four of the five suspects under arrest beforehand. They believed that the evidence was already incriminating enough to keep them in prison. The fifth suspect has been given conditional release and is not allowed to contact any of the other four detainees.
The official arrests come two days after the Federal Police carried out numerous searches in Belgium to crack down on a group of suspected radical Islamists.
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A total of eight suspects have been detained since, with two separate terror attack plots in both Antwerp and Brussels having been uncovered by security services.
The men who were detained in Brussels are also set to appear in front of an investigative judge on Wednesday, who will determine whether they will remain in detention.
