Four arrests in an attempt to abduct Belgian minister of justice
The Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced on Saturday that the minister had been placed under reinforced police surveillance, and that three suspects had been arrested in the Netherlands.
Four suspects were arrested this weekend in the Netherlands in the investigation into an attempted kidnapping of Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne, who implicated "the drug mafia".
The minister, also burgomaster (mayor) of Kortrijk, addressed Saturday evening the inhabitants of this city of West Flanders who participated in a municipal ball, in a video message broadcast on Sunday by public radio and television RTBF.
He said he received a phone call Thursday from federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw. "He warned me of a kidnapping project that was targeting me," said the minister in this video message, adding that he did not want to cancel the festivities so as not to "give reason to the drug mafia".
The Belgian federal prosecutor's office announced on Saturday that the minister had been placed under reinforced police surveillance, and that three suspects had been arrested in the Netherlands. The Dutch public prosecutor's office specified that they were three men aged 20, 29 and 48, of Dutch nationality. A fourth suspect was arrested in the Netherlands, a judicial source said on Sunday. Their transfer to Belgium has been requested.
