A terrorist suspect sparked a false bomb alert in Brussels after strapping a device full of ‘salt and biscuits’ around his waist.
Police were told about ‘suspicious activity’ near the City 2 complex shortly after 5.30am, and special forces officers were scrambled to the scene.
A Brussels police spokesman said: ‘The man was arrested, but it turned out that his suicide belt was fake. It contained salt and biscuits.’
The City 2 is one of the largest shopping centres in Brussels, and would have been packed with people later today.
Charles Michel, the Belgium Prime Minister, meanwhile said that ‘an emergency crisis meeting’ would still be held today.
On Saturday, three men were charged with ‘attempting to commit a terrorist murder, and participation in the activities of a terrorist group’ following a series of raids across Belgium.
Brussels City2 Shopping Centre Bomb Alert
It followed fears that an attack on a Euro 2016 football fanzone was imminent, following warnings from Islamic State.
Isis terrorists struck in Belgium in March, in two coordinated attacks that led to 32 people being killed by suicide bombers at the city airport, and an underground station.
They were part of the same cell that attacked Paris in November 2015, killing almost 150 people in one night of extreme violence.
A football international at the Stade de France between France and Germany was among the targets for bombers, and Isis has since said that Euro 2016 is a prime target.
Belgium Interior Minister Jan Jambon said a car containing suspected terrorists had been spotted close to a Brussels fanzone on Friday.
This was the day before Belgium played Ireland in a Euro 2016 tie attracting an audience of hundreds of thousands, including many watching in the Brussels fanzone.
Those charged at the weekend were identified as Samir C., 27, Mustafa B., 40, and Jawad B., 29, and came from the ‘Brussels area’, said a prosecuting source.
All now face trial, and possibility of a life sentence in prison, with the source adding: ‘Phone taps enabled investigators to work out what the group was up to. When enough evidence was gathered, the raid was launched.’
Prime Minister Mr Michel said his country would ‘remain extremely vigilant, hour by hour’, because the threat of an attack was ‘possible and likely’.
MORE ABOUT