Around 1:00 p.m. Friday, the driver of a white van drove into two terraces located rue Saint-Michel, a road perpendicular to rue Neuve, before fleeing.
A van drove into the terrace of a café in Brussels on Friday, causing six minor injuries before fleeing. A suspect whose motives “are not known” was arrested shortly after. “The investigations led to the identification of a suspect who was arrested this afternoon by the police in Antwerp” (north), said the spokesperson for the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, Willemien Baert, during a press conference held on Friday. She refused to give any information on the profile of the arrested person who must be heard by the police.
In the columns of The last news, we learn more about this suspect. According to the Flemish media, the federal judicial police heard the man in the evening.
His home in St-Josse in the Brussels region was searched. The suspect is 28 years old, reports HLN. He does not show any signs of radicalization, specifies The evening.
The man would not be the owner of the van. The latter would belong to a delivery company established in Schaerbeek. The suspect is believed to be employed there.
The investigation has yet to determine why and how the driver then ended up in Antwerp after abandoning his vehicle in Brussels. At the time of writing, this information disclosed by several media has not been communicated by the prosecution.
So far, no leads have been ruled out. It could be a voluntary act or a traffic accident, explained the spokesperson for the Brussels public prosecutor’s office during the press conference.
In the columns of HLN, we learn that the suspect is known to justice but not for facts related to terrorism. He was auditioned Friday evening and should be presented to an examining magistrate today. The judge will have to decide if he should be charged.
Shortly before 1 p.m. this Friday, a van drove towards a terrace on rue Saint-Michel; in the historic center of the city, very busy. The driver fled in his vehicle. Six people were slightly injured. They were treated on the spot, there was no evacuation to the hospital.
Following this incident, the body responsible for analyzing the terrorist threat in Belgium (OCAM) raised its alert level for a few hours from 2 to 3 for places frequented in Brussels before lowering it “in reason for reassuring elements” in the ongoing investigation, according to a spokesperson.