Man arrested with Kalashnikov at Brussels Midi Station following customs control
A man was detained on Thursday morning at Brussels Midi Station after police discovered a Kalashnikov hidden in a bag. The Belgian interior minister welcomed the arrest and called for an expansion of military patrols at railway stations.
Kalashnikov discovered in bag at Brussels Midi Station
A man was arrested on Thursday morning, at around 9:30 a.m., at Brussels Midi Station — the main international railway station of the Belgian capital — after disembarking from a train with a Kalashnikov hidden in a bag. The information was obtained by AFP from a source close to the investigation, according to Digi24.
The military weapon was discovered following a customs control. Railway police, called in to assist, proceeded to detain the suspect. The Brussels prosecutor refused to make any comment regarding the case.
Belgian newspaper "La Dernière Heure" reported that the suspect was disembarking from a train arriving from France, information that AFP was unable to immediately confirm.
Belgian interior minister Bernard Quintin welcomed the arrest through a press statement, without mentioning the weapon discovered or the suspect's profile. "I can confirm that an arrest took place this morning. This demonstrates that the intensification of patrols at railway stations, with the assistance of our military, is necessary and must be continued, and indeed expanded," Quintin said.
The arrest comes against a backdrop of concern from authorities over the scale of armed violence linked to drug trafficking in Brussels. At the end of August, the Belgian capital recorded a new wave of shootings — often attributed to rivalries between criminal gangs. One of the attacks targeted a neighbourhood police station, which was machine-gunned by two hooded individuals with a Kalashnikov.
Source: Digi24