A hand grenade and a handgun were recovered from a suspicious vehicle intercepted by police on Monday evening in the Antwerp district of Deurne, the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office confirmed on Tuesday.
The two male occupants of the vehicle, aged 26 and 29, are currently under police interrogation and will soon be brought before an investigating judge, Belga News Agency reports. It is believed that the suspects were planning a grenade attack or other violent act within Antwerp.
The public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the pair in relation to an attempted grenade attack against a building, as well as violation of firearms laws and potential links to criminal organisations.
Meanwhile, the Federal Judicial Police are conducting further investigations into the incident, as well as exploring the pair’s connection to the organised drug trade.
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Two rapid response teams from the Antwerp police zone intercepted the suspect Volkswagen Polo on Monday evening on Steenlandstraat in Deurne. The car, which carried Dutch number plates, was flagged as part of an ongoing investigation by Federal Judicial Police into narco-violence in Belgium.
Antwerp has become a battleground between rival drug gangs in recent years. Criminals have carried out frequent grenade attacks against residential addresses and even assassinations.
Belgium’s Federal Police have vowed to crack down on these drug gangs, especially in light of an attempted kidnap plot against Belgium’s Justice Minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, which led to the arrest of four Dutch suspects.
