Belgian police arrest adult, 3 minors over jihadist plot messages

Federal prosecutor’s office says probe showed four suspects were planning an attack

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgian police on Sunday arrested an adult and three minors over messages they exchanged allegedly plotting a jihadist attack, local media reported.

The four were arrested as police conducted searches at addresses in the cities of Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi, and Liege, outlets RTBF and HLN reported. No weapons or explosives were found.

Multiple attempts by AFP to contact the federal prosecutor’s office handling the case for confirmation were not immediately answered.

Belgian authorities remain highly vigilant since the 2016 jihadist attacks by suicide bombers that killed 32 people in blasts at Brussels airport and the city’s metro system.

And in October last year, a Tunisian man shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels before being fatally shot by police.

According to broadcaster RTBF, Sunday’s arrests stemmed from a police operation looking into people deemed potentially violent and with links to Islamic extremism.

“The investigation showed that these people were planning to commit a terrorist attack,” Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, told the HLN news website.

“The plans were not yet very concrete, but still serious enough to arrest and interrogate them,” he said.

Police were questioning the four suspects and an investigating judge was on Sunday or Monday to determine what would ensue.