Belgian Police Arrest Two over Suspected New Year’s Eve Attack Plot

Local Editor

Belgian police arrested two people in different parts of the country on Sunday and Monday suspected of plotting an attack in Brussels on New Year's Eve, federal prosecutors said.

During house searches in Brussels and a neighboring province as well as Liege, a total of six people had been taken in for questioning but four of them had been released, they said on Tuesday.

Police found computer hardware, military-style training uniforms and "ISIS" propaganda material but no weapons or explosives. The searches were not linked to the attacks in Paris in November, which killed 130 people, prosecutors said.

One of the two was arrested on suspicion of planning attacks as well as "playing a lead role in the activities of a terrorist group and recruiting for terrorist acts," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The second faced charges of planning and "participating in the activities of a terrorist group," it said.

"The investigation cast a light on the serious threats of attacks believed to be aimed at several emblematic sites in Brussels and which would be carried out during the end-of-year celebrations."

The suspects were arrested during raids in the Brussels area, in Flemish Brabant and near the southern French-speaking city of Liege.

The raids were ordered by an investigating magistrate in Brussels who specializes in terrorism cases.

The Belgian authorities are still looking for suspects linked to the November 13 attacks on a Paris concert hall, restaurants, bars and the national stadium which left 130 people dead.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team