TWO PEOPLE HAVE been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of planning attacks in Brussels within the next week, the federal prosecutor’s office has said.
The investigation revealed “the threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays”, the prosecutor’s office said.
The two suspects were arrested following searches Sunday and yesterday in the Brussels area, the Liege region and Flemish Brabant, the office said. The announcement did not say whether the suspects were male or female.
During the searches, military-type training uniforms, propaganda materials from the Islamic State group and computer material were seized and are being examined. However, no weapons or explosives were found, the prosecutor’s office said.
Six people were taken in for questioning, but four were released, the office said.
Two were placed under arrest on charges including participation in the activities of a terrorist group as a leader or recruiter with the aim of committing terrorist offenses as principal or secondary actor, the prosecutor’s office said.
The prosecutor’s office said no additional details would be made public, but that the probe was not connected to the 13 November attacks in Paris, in which numerous suspects, including presumed ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and fugitive Salah Abdeslam, had connections to Belgium.
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