Brussels: Authorities in Belgium carried out 14 raids across the country on Thursday and detained seven people for questioning over suspected terrorist activities. The raids came a day before the opening of the Olympic Games in neighbouring France.
“All the people concerned are suspected of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, of financing terrorism and preparing a terrorist attack,” the Federal prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
Spokesperson Arnaud d’Oultremont told The Associated Press that investigators had “not yet identified the suspects’ concrete objectives.”
A Belgian investigating judge will decide whether the suspects detained will be formally placed under arrest.Credit: AP
Police in the French capital, Paris, have launched a huge security operation to secure the opening ceremony that draws thousands of athletes and millions of spectators to the city. Police from 44 countries, including Belgium, are involved in the security mission.
Olympic events are being held throughout France, including in the northern city of Lille, just 20 kilometres from the border with Belgium.
A Belgian investigating judge will decide whether the suspects detained will be formally placed under arrest, the prosecutor’s statement said. The raids took place in cities and towns including Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Liège.
Police guard the Eiffel Tower ahead of the start of the Olympics.Credit: AP
The French national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office did not immediately comment on the Belgian investigation.
Belgium is one of several European nations that have been hit hard by extremist attacks in recent years. In October, two Swedish soccer fans were killed in Brussels.
In 2016, 32 people were killed in extremist attacks at the Brussels airport and a subway station in Belgium’s deadliest peacetime violence, part of a wave of attacks in Europe linked to the Islamic State group.
Among those convicted for their role in the 2016 suicide bombing plot was Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence without parole in France over his role in attacks that hit Paris cafes, the Bataclan music venue and France’s national stadium in 2015.
The Paris and Brussels attacks were linked to the same Islamic State network.
Meanwhile, in northern Germany, two Russian nationals were arrested on Thursday, accused of supporting a foreign terror organisation and violating export laws by allegedly collecting donations for the Islamic State group. The pair is accused of joining a group in the summer of 2022 that aimed to collect money for the group in Germany and other European countries, German federal prosecutors said.
There was no immediate indication the arrests were linked to the Belgian raids.
AP