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BELGIAN police have arrested two people suspected of plotting attacks in Brussels during New Year celebrations, just weeks after the jihadist bombings and shootings in Paris which were allegedly planned in Belgium.
The federal prosecutor’s office in Brussels, the home of the European Union and NATO, said yesterday that police seized military-style training uniforms, computer hardware and Islamic State propaganda material in raids in various parts of the country.
But investigators said the police action Sunday and Monday was not linked to the wave of deadly attacks in Paris in November which were claimed by the Islamic State group and which France says were prepared in Belgium.
One of the two was arrested on suspicion of planning attacks as well as “playing a lead role in the activities of a terrorist group and recruiting for terrorist acts,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The second faced charges of planning and “participating in the activities of a terrorist group,” it said.
“The investigation cast a light on serious threats of attacks believed to be aimed at several emblematic sites in Brussels and carried out during the end-of-year celebrations.”
In light of the “serious” threats, Belgium’s OCAM national crisis center late Monday raised its alert level for police and soldiers in Brussels, “which could be symbolic targets,” a spokesman told AFP.
The raids, which were ordered by an investigating magistrate in Brussels who specializes in terrorism cases, turned up neither weapons nor explosives.
A total of six people were detained, including the two suspected of plotting attacks, but the four others were later released, the prosecutor’s office said.
It said investigators were examining seized computer hardware, uniforms and Islamic State propaganda material but declined to release any details about the suspects.
Belgium is per capita the source of the highest number of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq with an estimated 500 of its citizens having gone to wage jihad there. (SD-Agencies)
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