Another three minors linked to a jihadist movement planning an attack on the Brussels concert hall Botanique were arrested in France. The three are aged between 15 and 17.
In Belgium, three minors and one adult were detained on Sunday last week as part of a federal investigation targeting those suspected of connections to violent Islamic extremism. It was confirmed that the four people, aged between 15 and 18, had planned to commit a terror attack on the Botanique concert venue in Brussels "within a few weeks".
Another three adolescents aged between 15 and 17 were arrested and taken into custody on Monday in connection with the foiled attack, the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche reported. The arrests took place in three French cities and came after Belgium shared information from the Belgian investigation with French authorities.
"We regularly share information with foreign services, after which it is up to those foreign services to take any necessary legal action," the Belgian federal prosecutor's office told Belga News Agency.
The three minors are suspected of having been in contact with the four suspects arrested in Belgium on Sunday via a social media group, where they exchanged jihadist propaganda. They also adhered to the same Islamist ideology but were not directly involved in planning the attack.
Belgian suspects
The four Belgian suspects from the jihadist milieu had also come into contact with each other through the internet. Their conversations included references to the terrorist group Islamic State, and the four allegedly also searched for weapons on the dark web. However, no weapons or explosives were found during the searches on Sunday.
The 18-year-old arrested in Belgium has been placed under arrest by the investigating judge in Brussels, and the three minors have been placed at the disposal of an investigating judge in Dendermonde (East Flanders).
Concert venue Botanique has since confirmed that it will keep its current security measures – introduced since the 2016 terror attacks in Belgium, which claimed the lives of 35 victims – in place and that events will go ahead as planned.
The general threat level for Belgium is still 3 (severe) on a scale of 1 to 4. It was raised to this level following the attack in October last year, in which two Swedish football fans were shot dead on Boulevard d'Ypres near Place Sainctelette, a 20-minute walk from Grand Place. The country had not been on this threat level since January 2018.
