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Brussels terror alert: No bomb found | Brussels terror alert: No bomb found |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A man arrested amid an anti-terror operation at a shopping centre in Brussels was wearing a fake suicide belt containing salt and biscuits, the city's prosecutor's office says. | |
The man called police earlier in the morning claiming to have been abducted and made to wear an explosive belt. | |
Streets around the City 2 shopping centre were closed off and a bomb disposal unit deployed. | |
The suspect has a history of psychiatric problems, prosecutors say. | |
They are investigating if the incident is connected to terrorism. | |
The man arrested was born in 1990 and has only been identified as J.B. | |
Pictures obtained by Belgian newspaper Le Soir appear to show him wearing an improvised belt, including wires and a phone. | |
According to prosecutors, he had called police at 05:30 local time (03:30 GMT) claiming that he had been kidnapped, dropped off at the City 2 mall and that the suicide belt he was wearing could be detonated remotely. | |
After being arrested, the man described the car in which he was supposedly kidnapped, which was found in the Schaerbeek area. | |
Police will question the owner. | |
The man recently informed police that he had been encouraged to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, but prosecutors could not verify his claim. | |
"For the moment, the situation is under control," Prime Minister Charles Michel said earlier after a meeting of the national crisis response centre. | |
He said security services remained "extremely vigilant". | He said security services remained "extremely vigilant". |
Belgium's terror alert level remains at three, one step down from a maximum level of four. | Belgium's terror alert level remains at three, one step down from a maximum level of four. |
City 2 tightened security measures last week in response to media reports of a heightened threat to shopping centres based on an internal police memo, Le Soir reports. | |
Bomb attacks on Brussels airport and the city's metro killed 32 people in March and were claimed by IS. |