France arrests teens over links to Belgian Jihadists
Police in France have detained three teenagers who were allegedly in contact with four arrestees in Belgium on suspicions of planning a jihadist attack in the Belgian capital, reports AFP.
Since the 2016 jihadist attacks by suicide bombers that killed more than 30 people at the Brussels airport and the city’s metro system, Belgian authorities remain highly vigilant.
A source close to the case said the three minors, aged 15 to 17, allegedly espoused extremist Islamist beliefs, on March 5th. However, the teens were not thought to be implicated directly in what was considered a looming attack on a Brussels concert hall.
On the 3rd of March, Belgian police detained another three minors in their “late teens” and an 18-year-old for what prosecutors said were messages plotting an attack deemed “imminent enough to intervene”.
The suspects were arrested in raids on home addresses in the cities of Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi and Liege.
The arrests came from a police operation looking into people deemed potentially violent and with links to Islamic extremism.
During the raids, no explosives or weapons were found, however, police took away laptops and mobile phones for analysis.
The investigation indicates that the adult suspect was planning a separate attack and was in contact with one of the minors. Where the three minors in particular were targeting one of the capital’s best-known sites, the Botanique cultural complex “within a few weeks”, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
The minors will fall under the jurisdiction of their local youth prosecutors, while the adult will be dealt with by a Brussels investigative judge.
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Jihadist ideologues project a commitment to a righteous cause. They claim that their battle is waged in the service of God; it is not contaminated with ephemeral interests. The loyalty of the jihadists is to God alone, not to leaders or states. They love what He loves and hate what He hates.
AFP
