Antwerp Driver Charged with Terror Offenses

VOA News
24 March 2017 (9:55AM)

Belgian prosecutors have charged the man who attempted to drive at high speeds Thursday through a shopping center in Antwerp with terror offenses including attempted murder.

The 39-year-old French national and resident, identified as Mohamed R., was charged with "an attempt to murder in a terrorist manner, an attempt to hit and wound in a terrorist manner, and arms infractions," the federal prosecutor's office said Friday.

Police found a knives and a gun in Mohamed's car.

He also was "under the influence of something" when he was apprehended and reportedly in no condition to speak to police until the next day, though the specific substance was not specified.

French police sources told Reuters news agency that it is possible the suspect was not trying to hit anyone, but instead was speeding to avoid a police checkpoint because he was intoxicated.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred one day after a car driving at high speed killed people near the British Parliament on London's Westminster Bridge, and also a day after the anniversary of twin attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people last year.