De Croo’s aide was hospitalized after opening a letter containing strychnine, a potentially deadly poison. In another incident, a man was arrested after threatening police officers with a knife outside the prime minister’s office. The Brussels Prosecutor’s Office reported this Wednesday (09/01) that a substance was sent last November to government buildings, including the Belgian Prime Minister. Strychnine, a potentially deadly poison, was discovered in Alexander De Croo’s office.
According to Belgian press reports, an unidentified member of De Croo’s cabinet was hospitalized after suffering injuries to his hands after opening one of the letters.
On November 22, two days after similar packages were found in the office of Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden and the headquarters of the State Security Service, another person was quarantined as a precaution but was not injured.
Strychnine, an odorless white powder, is used as rat poison and in humans can cause muscle spasms, cardiac arrest, organ failure and even death.
A spokesman for De Croo said on Thursday that the poisoned letters had left the prime minister and his team shocked. “Our colleague, fortunately, is now well and at that time all procedures had been followed scrupulously to avoid further damage,” he said. “But this cannot be the new normal.”
Suspect arrested in front of the Prime Minister’s office
News of the alleged poisoning attempt came two days after the arrest of a man armed with a knife outside De Croo’s office in Brussels. The prime minister was not present at the time of the incident. Security guards arrested him after he pulled out a knife and threatened them.
The 29-year-old attacker was known to police and possibly suffered from mental disorders. He is under investigation for attempted murder and illegal possession of a weapon. His motive cannot yet be clarified, authorities said.
The suspect had already been involved in a similar incident in April last year, when he attempted to attack a security guard at the US embassy in the Belgian capital with a knife. An investigation had already been opened into this case and the attacker was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
These incidents come against a backdrop of increased threats and acts of violence against political representatives in Europe. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico survived an assassination attempt last year. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked in a square in Copenhagen.
In 2023, the Council of Europe warned of an increase in violence against elected representatives at local and regional level.
RC (AFP, ots)
Source: Terra
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