FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Man wearing a fake suicide belt packed with cookies triggers security scare in Brussels

Brussels police detained a man near a busy shopping center after he announced that he was strapped with explosives that would be set off remotely, later discovering the belt was lined with salt and cookies.
Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters

A man claiming to be strapped with a suicide bomb belt triggered a major scare in a Brussels commercial district on Tuesday before police found the device was merely packed with salt and cookies.

On Tuesday, Brussels police detained a man near the bustling City 2 shopping center after he announced that he was strapped with explosives that would be set off remotely. The area was sealed off while bomb experts checked the man's belt.

Advertisement

The Belgian capital remains on edge under a high security alert three months after three Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up at Brussels Airport and in a metro train, killing 32 people.

The man, born in 1990 and identified as J.B., had called police himself to say he had been kidnapped and forced to wear an explosives belt. It proved to be a false alarm.

While the incident is still being investigated for possible connections to militant Islam, J.B. is reportedly known to authorities, according to a spokeswoman for the Brussels federal prosecutor.

"J.B. is known to police, also because of mental problems," she told Reuters.

In 2014 J.B. told police he had been ordered to go to Syria to join Islamist militants fighting in the civil war there, an incident that remains under investigation, prosecutors said. Police also located a car that brought J.B. to the shopping mall and were questioning the owner, a police spokesman said.

Belgium's Crisis Center, which oversees security measures, convened with Prime Minister Charles Michel and Interior Minister Jan Jambon present to discuss Tuesday's incident.

Following the incident, authorities searched a house in the Brussels borough of Schaerbeek. Special police were seen leaving the house, located on Stephenson street, carrying items. A car parked some 200 meters away from the house was also towed away.

A police spokesman said that police had located a car which brought the man to the shopping center and were questioning the owner.

Follow VICE News on Twitter: @vicenews