Belgian Authorities Arrest Eight People In Connection With Alleged Terrorist Attack Plans

Illustration of arrests. (Wikimedia Commons/Oregon Department of Transportation)

JAKARTA - Belgium's federal prosecutor on Wednesday announced the arrest of seven people suspected of being linked to the country's planned terrorist attack.

The arrests came a day after prosecutors said they had detained eight people on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack after a raid in Belgium.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday four people had been charged with taking part in terrorist group activities, preparing terrorist attacks, attempted killings, and intending to spread messages inciting terrorist acts.

The four of them, three Belgians and a Turkish national, are linked to a case in the city ofTEN, prosecutors said. They will be brought to justice there on April 3.

Three other people, two Belgians and a Bulgarian resident, were charged in a case in Brussels. Two of them were charged with taking part in terrorist group activities.

A third person was charged with taking part in terrorist group activities, preparing terrorist acts and spreading messages with the intention of inciting terrorist acts, prosecutors said.

The three people charged in the Brussels case will be in court in the Belgian capital on April 3.

In a previous statement prosecutors said police carried out raids on Monday night at five addresses in Brussels,TEN and in Eupen, a town near the German border, detaining five people and at least two of whom are suspected of planning an attack.

In a separate but related investigation, police raided three other addresses in and near Brussels, detaining three people, also on suspicion of planning an attack.

Belgium is the residence of several perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attack that killed 130 people. Brussels was the target of twin bomb attacks at airports and metros in March 2016, which killed 32 people.

The country's biggest criminal court, against nine suspects accused of taking part in a suicide bombing in March 2016, is underway in Brussels.

Brussels itself is known to be home to EU institutions and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).