Interior minister Jan Jambon said most of those monitored have fought with jihadists abroad
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon on Thursday said security services have deemed 57 residents of Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek radicalized and put them under surveillance.
Most of the people under surveillance have fought with jihadists groups abroad, the minister said, adding that 27 of those, marked as radicalized, are about to travel to Syria and are likely to join extremist groups there.
“It’s possible that not all of them pose a serious threat,” Jambon told localmedia. “The list will be adapted and those who are no longer a risk [to society], will be taken off.”
Authorities identified the individuals as part of efforts to combat radicalization, extremism and terrorism after the March bombings in Brussels.
Jambon said that as part of the plan, authorities conducted 5,000 searches of homes and mosques in the past six months.
Molenbeek, a district of about 96,000 people, has become known as a ‘terrorism hotspot‘ because, some of the attackers, who bombed Brussels and Paris, had either lived or operated in the area.
politico.eu
