Terror arrests in Belgium up threefold

In Belgium last year 72 people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism, compared to 20 people in 2013, according to Europol’s EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2015, reports De Standaard.

The sharp increase is a direct response to the 2014 attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, and a reflection of the global rise in the incidences of terrorism and threat of attack by Jihadi fighters returning from Syria, says the European police organisation.

In 2014 there were 201 failed, foiled or executed terrorist attacks in the EU, Europol reports. In Belgium there was only one attack, but all four victims of the Jewish Museum shooting were killed.

With 72 people arrested on suspicion of terrorism in 2014, Belgium comes in fourth place in Europe behind France (238), Spain (145) and the United Kingdom (132). Of the attacks, 71 were religiously inspired and one was considered ‘right-wing terrorism’. In 2013 in Belgium there were 20 arrests, 19 of which were for religiously inspired terrorist activities.