Status: 09/28/2022 12:46 p.m
One person was killed in a shootout during a large-scale police action against right-wing extremists in Belgium. It is still unclear whether the raids are related to the failed kidnapping of the Belgian Minister of Justice.
One person was killed in an exchange of fire with the police during an anti-terrorist operation. As the public prosecutor’s office in Brussels announced, the incident occurred during raids in the north of the country. Belgian investigators had ordered the searches because they suspected members of the right-wing extremist milieu of preparing “a terrorist attack”. The identity of the person killed is still unknown.
During the ten or so searches in communities between Antwerp and Ghent, numerous weapons and ammunition were confiscated, it said. The exact background of the alleged attack plans are still in the dark.
Kidnapping of Belgium’s justice minister foiled
It was also initially unknown whether there was a connection to a kidnapping of Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne that was foiled over the weekend. In front of the Flemish Liberal politician’s house, the police confiscated a car with a Kalashnikov and petrol cans. Van Quickenborne then blamed the drug mafia.
Along with Rotterdam in the Netherlands and ahead of Hamburg, the Belgian port city of Antwerp is the largest hub for cocaine and other drugs in Europe.