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Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three people accused of conspiring to carry out an assault on the country's premier, Bart de Wever.

Federal prosecutors described the reported scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the prime minister and additional elected representatives.

During investigations conducted in the Deurne area of Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's personal dwelling, investigators uncovered a suspected IED and indications that the individuals were intending to deploy a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the intended targets of the assault were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot stated that de Wever was one of them.

"Reports of a intended attack aimed at Prime Minister Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the deputy prime minister stated in a message on X on the investigation day.

"This underscores that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he concluded.

The three suspects arrested on allegations of attempted terrorist murder and involvement in the operations of a jihadist network all are based in Antwerp, according to the legal authorities. They were had birth years in 2001, 2002 and 2007.

By late Thursday, one of the individuals was freed, while two others were undergoing questioning and expected to face a judge on the following day.

Legal authorities revealed that the suspects were detained after a court official directed searches of their dwellings in the city by officials supported by bomb detection canines.

Throughout these investigations that they found a item which appeared to be an IED, federal prosecutor Ann Fransen stated at a news conference on the day of the events.

Investigations also found a "bag of steel balls" and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.

The prosecutor stated that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in the country in the current year - more than the overall count of investigations in 2024.

Earlier this year, five individuals were sentenced for a scheme last year to attack Belgium's leader while he was holding the position of the mayor of Antwerp.