A sale of luxury watches having turned to sequestration with a weapon: the Brussels public prosecutor's office delivered on Tuesday February 7 the first elements of explanation on a vast police operation carried out the evening before in the heart of the European institutions district.
Two men aged 33 and 39 were arrested in the evening as part of the investigation, the prosecution said in a statement.
The police had been warned of an "
incident
" Monday around 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. Paris time) not far from Square Ambiorix, in the district housing the headquarters of the European Commission and the European Council.
The suspects fled
According to the first elements of the investigation, the underground garage of a building was used for a sale of second-hand luxury watches, and it is in this context that two people "
would have been assaulted and then kidnapped
".
“
A firearm would have been used
”, underlines the parquet floor.
After the assault, "
the suspects
" fled, and the victims managed to break free and alert neighbors, who called the police.
Monday evening, the prosecution had raised the possibility that one or more armed suspects had taken refuge in a building.
The investigation is ongoing
The search led to the establishment of a security perimeter around rue Boduognat, and police officers from special units were deployed, noted an AFP photographer.
A federal police helicopter was also requested to fly over the area.
The operation lasted about five hours, until shortly before midnight.
The location and circumstances of the double arrest were not specified.
“
The investigation is actively following its course
,” concluded the prosecution, stressing that an investigating judge should be seized of it by Tuesday evening.
