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Belgium's law enforcement have taken into custody three people suspected of plotting an assault on the nation's prime minister, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities described the suspected plan as a extremist assault with jihadist roots targeting the PM and other elected representatives.

During investigations conducted in Antwerp's Deurne district, near the premier's private residence, investigators found a suspected IED and indications that the suspects were planning to use a unmanned aerial vehicle.

While the prospective targets of the attack were not disclosed by name by the legal authorities, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot confirmed that Belgium's leader was one of them.

"The news of a planned assault directed toward PM Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," Prevot declared in a post on online platforms on Thursday.

"It emphasizes that we are facing a genuine extremist danger and that we have to remain vigilant," he continued.

The three individuals detained on charges of terrorism-related attempted murder and engagement in the operations of a extremist organization all live in the city of Antwerp, according to the federal prosecutors. They were born in the early 2000s.

On the evening of the arrests, one person was freed, while two others were undergoing questioning and scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

Federal prosecutors revealed that the individuals were arrested after a court official directed inspections of their residences in the city by officials backed by bomb detection canines.

It was during these searches that they located a object which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a media briefing on Thursday.

Raids also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with signs of drone weaponization plans, she noted.

The prosecutor disclosed that there had been eighty counter-terrorism cases launched in the country in the current year - more than the overall count of investigations in last year.

During the spring, five suspects were found guilty for a scheme last year to strike the prime minister while he was serving as the city's chief executive.