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Belgium's authorities have taken into custody three individuals allegedly involved in plotting an strike on the country's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Prosecutors labeled the alleged plan as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the premier and fellow politicians.

During searches conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, in proximity to the premier's private residence, authorities discovered a potential IED and proof that the accused were intending to use a UAV.

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

"The news of a planned strike targeting Prime Minister Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the official stated in a post on X on the day of the arrests.

"It emphasizes that we are dealing with a very real extremist danger and that we have to keep watchful," he added.

The three individuals taken into custody on charges of terrorism-related attempted murder and involvement in the operations of a extremist organization all reside in Antwerp, per the federal prosecutors. They were with years of birth in the early 2000s.

By late Thursday, one person was released, while the other suspects were still being questioned and likely to face a judge on Friday.

The prosecution revealed that the accused were taken into custody after a magistrate ordered inspections of their dwellings in the urban area by police officers backed by bomb detection canines.

Throughout these searches that they found a device which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen said at a media briefing on that day.

Searches also found a "bag of steel balls" and a 3D printer, with evidence suggesting drone-based payload delivery, she added.

The official said that there had been 80 terrorism investigations opened in Belgium in the current year - surpassing the overall count of cases in 2024.

Earlier this year, five individuals were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike De Wever while he was serving as the mayor of Antwerp.