Police in Belgium arrest eight people in anti-terrorist raid

Police officers in Belgium have arrested eight people during anti-terrorist raids across the country as part of an operation aimed at thwarting possible terror attacks. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office gave this information on Tuesday. Antwerp police raided five places in Merksheim, Borgerhout, Dürne, Sint-Jans-Möllenbeek and Eupen on Monday night at the request of an investigating judge.

The prosecutor’s office said five people had been arrested, but gave no details of what was seized during the raid. “At least two of those involved are suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in Belgium,” prosecutors said. The target of the attack has not yet been determined.” Meanwhile, Brussels police raided Zaventem, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and the surrounding areas of Schaerbeek and arrested three people in a separate case.

According to the prosecutor’s office, “these people are also suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Belgium.” Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that the cases in Brussels and Antwerp initially focused on two young adults suspected of violent radicalism and that the investigation revealed a link between the two. The arrest comes as a trial continues in Belgium of suspected members of a cell that carried out one of the deadliest attacks on Belgian soil during peacetime seven years ago. According to the Center for Independent Assessment of Terrorism and Extremism Risk in Belgium, the current threat on a scale of one to four is of the second category, that is, medium.

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