On Sunday, four men were arrested in Belgium following a planned attack targeting a concert hall. This Monday, three minors, in contact with them, were arrested in France.
The fear of jihadist attacks is still very strong in Europe. In Brussels, tension rose a notch after a planned attack was discovered this weekend. It targeted the Botanique concert hall, one of the largest in the Belgian capital and was planned “in a few weeks”, said BFMTV.
A series of searches made it possible to foil the plans of the potential attackers. Four men, including three minors, were arrested this Sunday. They are suspected of belonging to the Islamist movement and are said to have exchanged messages deemed “worrying enough” to intervene. However, no weapons or explosives were found on site. The three minor suspects appeared before the investigating judge this Monday and were charged. Same fate for the major suspect for “participation in the activities of a terrorist group” and “preparatory acts for an attack”.
Other arrests, in connection with the case, took place this Monday, but this time on French soil as revealed The Sunday Journal. Three teenagers were, in fact, suspected of having been in contact with the men arrested on Sunday in Belgium. Even if they were not directly involved in the planned attack, they “interacted in a group of a social network in which exchanges of jihadist propaganda took place and plans for an attack were mentioned”, specified the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s OfficeAFP.
They were taken into custody by the General Directorate of Internal Security for “terrorist criminal association”. Gérald Darmanin reacted to the arrests on French territory.
Thank you to the DGSI agents who work every day to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens. Three teenagers, potentially very dangerous, were arrested on our soil. https://t.co/Mjr8hZu7RA
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) March 5, 2024
The youth of the suspects is one of the striking elements of this case: “They are very flexible. If someone gives them a weapon, for example, things can go very, very quickly. So we don’t want to take any risks” , commented the spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, Eric Van Der Sypt.