The suspect in the thwarted attack on the Miss Belgium pageant in Plopsaland De Panne is 46-year-old Peter C. He comes from Lommel, just across the border from Eindhoven, and was at the amusement park with a Dutch woman. She too has been arrested. The man was in possession of a handgun.
The woman would not be C.’s partner, but a friend. The two had come together by car. After the arrest, a firearm and a bulletproof vest were found in his vehicle. Those things were in the trunk, out of sight of the Dutch. That is why, according to the Belgian police, it is still clear whether they were aware of the attack plans.
On Sunday or Monday, a magistrate must decide whether she will remain in jail and what suspicions there are against her. She is currently in custody for questioning. The police do not want to say where exactly the woman comes from the Netherlands as long as she is not formally regarded as a suspect.
Motive
The exact motive of Peter C. is still unclear. “The investigation has shown that he probably wanted to commit an attack during the election of Miss Belgium that would take place a little later in Plopsaland. The exact motives of Peter C. are still unclear. He was not known to police and security services,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
He would have driven from Belgian Limburg to the seaside resort of De Panne on Saturday with a rental car. He had five licensed weapons with him and was intercepted by the police before he arrived in Plopsaland. It would be a police zone from Limburg that had received a message from the partner of the man who threatened an attack, writes the Belgian news agency Belga. According to Belga, he comes from Lommel and was born in 1976.
Election continued
‘The case has been entrusted to an investigating judge of the judicial district of West Flanders, Bruges section. He will decide later Sunday or Monday morning whether both persons will be brought before him and whether he will issue an arrest warrant.
The pageant of Miss Belgium could go ahead as planned, but with a delay of more than an hour. Just before the show was to start at 8.30 pm, the room was cleared. The election could start at around 9:30 p.m.
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