Seven people suspected of terrorism in Belgium remain in police custody

Seven people who were detained in Belgium on Thursday on suspicion of terrorism after police raided houses remain in custody on Friday, the state prosecutor’s spokesperson said.

A judge will decide later on Friday whether they will be charged, the spokesperson said.

Belgian media reported that investigators did not want to take any risks so close to the Olympic Games in Paris. But the prosecutor’s office did not respond to a Reuters’ question about a possible connection to the Games, whose opening ceremony will take place on Friday evening.

“(The detainees) are suspected, among other things, of preparing a terrorist attack. The specific targets of the attack had not yet been determined,” the prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday.

The house searches took place in the cities of Antwerp, Liege and Ghent, among other sites, and in the Brussels region.

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor said that no arrest or search occurred in France as part of the investigation but did not say if they were involved in the investigation.

The perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed and 368 wounded, largely planned and coordinated them from Belgium, and several of the attackers were Belgian nationals or residents.

In 2016, bombings at Brussels airport killed 34 people and injured 340. Among those convicted for the attacks was Salah Abdeslam, who was also the main suspect in the Paris attacks trial.