Belgium makes arrests over terror fears
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BATTLING terror on two fronts, Belgian police were holding eight people yesterday over an alleged New Year plot in Brussels and also arrested a 10th suspect over last month’s massacre in Paris.
Both Brussels and Paris have canceled annual New Year’s Eve fireworks displays as soldiers and police ramped up security in European capitals over perceived terror threats.
“It’s better not to take any risks,” Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur said when he announced the showpiece event’s cancelation late on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said two men had already been formally charged with terrorism-related offenses and police detained six more people yesterday for questioning over an alleged plot to strike “emblematic sites” in the Belgian capital during the year-end festivities.
They identified the pair as Said S., 30, and Mohammed K., 27. The men’s lawyers said their full names are Said Saouti and Mohammed Karay.
A source close to the investigation also said that officials were trying to determine whether members of a motorcycle gang called the “Kamikaze Riders” were involved.
Six other people were detained following seven police raids in and around the Belgian capital in which computer equipment, mobile phones and “airsoft material” were seized, it added. Airsoft is a type of airgun. An investigating judge will decide whether to keep the six in custody or release them, the prosecutor’s office added.
Brussels has been on high alert since it emerged that several of the attackers involved in the Paris carnage on November 13 had links to the Belgian capital.
Prosecutors said yesterday that they have arrested a 10th suspect over the attacks in Paris claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 130 people and wounded many more. They charged him with terror offences.
The Belgian national, identified only as Ayoub B., was detained on Wednesday during a raid on a house in the troubled Brussels immigrant neighborhood of Molenbeek, a statement from the federal prosecutor’s office said.
He has been charged with “terrorist murder” and involvement in the activities of a terrorist group, it said, adding that he will appear in court again within five days for a custody hearing.
Molenbeek is home to the Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam and has served in the past decades as a haven for jihadists.
Mayeur said on Wednesday that fireworks and related events in the central square of Place de Brouckere had been canceled because it was not possible to “guarantee that we can check everyone coming to the event” in the current circumstances.
Last year, some 100,000 people turned out to watch the traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks display. But the Horeca professional association of restaurants, hotels and cafes urged people to celebrate in a careful way.
“We must be vigilant but we must still open champagne and drink it!” Horteca President Yvan Roque said.
It is not the first time the New Year’s Eve fireworks have been canceled as the authorities made the same decision in 2007 because of another terror threat.
Officials said the plot revealed on Tuesday was not directly linked to the wave of bombings and shootings on a Paris concert venue, bars, restaurants and the national stadium.
In Turkey, meanwhile, officials said two Islamic State suspects, reportedly both Turks, had been planning to stage suicide bombings in the center of the capital Ankara on new Year’s Eve.
Moscow’s Red Square, traditionally a place where people gather to ring in the New Year, will be closed to revelers while Vienna has also beefed up security ahead of the celebrations.
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