On Thursday, May 4th, Belgian police arrested seven individuals suspected of preparing for a terrorist attack. As reported by several Belgian media outlets, the suspects have been described as “fervent” acolytes of the jihadist group, the Islamic State (IS).
Of the seven, four are Chechen by birth while three are Belgian citizens. They were apprehended during a series of raids in Ghent and the West Flanders region.
All are in their 20s and are still being interrogated; they face charges of participating in terrorist group activities and preparing a terrorist attack.
While the group did not yet have a concrete plan nor a target, possible scenarios had however been mulled. The suspects were seeking to acquire weapons, but whether they already had them in possession is unknown, with the prosecutor’s office unwilling to divulge details on what authorities had found during their searches.
It is the third time in a brief period that Belgian police have discovered a terrorist cell preparing for an attack and arrested its members.
In late March, eight young people were arrested in Brussels and Antwerp, who authorities said had been radicalized in a short period of time, and were planning an attack on Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever.
Eric Van Der Sypt from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office told public broadcaster VRT: “This is alarming. We see that radicalization is occurring at a rapid pace in certain circles,” he said.
Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne called the development “absolutely alarming.” He attributed the successful intervention to new legislation that allows Belgian intelligence agencies to infiltrate certain closed groups on social media, where extremist jihadists congregate and trade information.
The prime suspect, the minister added, was able to be apprehended through this method. He was being surveilled for some time, having been put on a list compiled by the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA), a body that analyzes and monitors terrorist threats in Belgium.
Following analysis, CUTA decided that the threat level for the country remains at level 2 (out of 4) for now. “At the same time, the CUTA reiterates that we must be alert and that is what our services will continue to do,” Van Quickenborne said.
News of the raids on the alleged Islamic State (IS) sympathizers come mere weeks after multiple Western intelligence agencies warned that a resurgent IS is plotting attacks in the West.
