Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has been placed under increased police surveillance and three suspects have been arrested in the Netherlands following a “threat” against the official, the federal prosecutor’s office announced on Saturday.
According to the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws“At least” an assault rifle and bottles filled with gasoline were discovered inside a Dutch-registered vehicle, spotted near the minister’s house in the north-west suburbs of Kortrijk.
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, which did not want to confirm this information, said in a press release that three people had been arrested during the night from Friday to Saturday in the Netherlands.
“We will never bow to violence”
They are three men of Dutch nationality, aged 20, 29 and 48, a spokeswoman for the Dutch prosecutor’s office in The Hague told AFP. His transfer to Belgium has been requested.
“My family and I are safe. Our fight against organized crime continues. With more manpower and resources than ever before. We will never bow to violence,” Vincent Van Quickenborne reacted on Twitter.
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office specifies that “it has been informed during the last week of a possible threat” to the Minister of Justice. An investigation, entrusted to an investigating judge, “quickly indicated that this threat must be taken seriously,” he adds.
The minister has been placed under enhanced police surveillance, and will not participate in certain activities planned for the “next few days”. The prosecution declined to provide further details of the investigation.
Source: BFM TV
