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Belgian law enforcement have arrested three individuals accused of plotting an assault on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities labeled the reported plot as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and other government officials.

During raids conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, close to the premier's private residence, officials discovered a potential IED and indications that the accused were intending to employ a drone.

While the planned victims of the strike were not publicly identified by the prosecutor's office, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot revealed that Belgium's leader was among them.

"The news of a premeditated strike directed toward Premier Bart de Wever is extremely shocking," the official declared in a message on social media on the day of the arrests.

"This underscores that we are confronting a very real extremist danger and that we have to stay alert," he added.

The three suspects arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and engagement in the operations of a extremist organization all are based in the city of Antwerp, per the prosecutor's office. They were born in the early 2000s.

On the evening of the arrests, one person was freed, while two others were undergoing questioning and expected to face a judge on the following day.

The prosecution stated that the accused were arrested after a court official authorized inspections of their residences in the location by officials supported by bomb detection canines.

It was during these investigations that they discovered a item which "bore strong resemblances to an improvised explosive device", legal representative Ann Fransen stated at a press conference on Thursday.

Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a additive manufacturing device, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she continued.

The official said that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases initiated in the nation so far this year - surpassing the overall count of investigations in the previous year.

During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a previous year's plan to strike the prime minister while he was acting as Antwerp's mayor.