Belgian police on Thursday arrested three men on a bus from Lille to Brussels after a passenger said he heard other people on board talking about planning to commit an attack, Belgian news outlet VRT reported.
The passenger who made the emergency call was “immediately taken very seriously. Everything is now being investigated further,” said An Berger of the federal police, without giving more details about the suspects.
The other passengers were taken off the bus one by one and checked; as was the luggage and bus.
Brussels has been on high alert since an attack in October in which a shooter killed two Swedish football supporters near the center of the city, in what senior Belgian politicians condemned as a “brutal terrorist attack.” The suspect was shot by Brussels police the next day.
A few days later, the Belgian federal government announced new measures to strengthen the country’s security apparatus and ensure a rapid and coordinated response to potential threats.