Three minors and one adult were detained on Sunday morning as part of a federal investigation targeting those suspected of connections to violent Islamic extremism, RTBF reports.
The arrests occurred during Sunday morning's raids in Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi, and Liège, which yielded no weapons or explosives. The four suspects were allegedly in contact and had plotted to carry out an attack.
The detainees include three minors from Ninove, Brussels and Charleroi, respectively, and one adult from Liège.
The minors will fall under the jurisdiction of their local youth prosecutors, while the adult will be dealt with by a Brussels investigative judge.
41% increase in threats
OCAM, the coordinating body for threat analysis, has taken stock of 2023 and noted an increase in threats in Belgium. 332 alerts relating to terrorism and extremism were processed by OCAM, compared with 236 in 2022, marking a 41% increase.
The body says this increase can be partly attributed to the escalation of the conflict in Gaza as well as the terror attack on Swedish football fans in Brussels on 16 October 2023. In October and November, the number of reports increased dramatically.
