(National-UAE) Belgian police this week arrested seven alleged ISIS supporters — almost all Chechens — who were accused of attempting to plan a terrorist attack within the country.
The men were believed to have been searching for weapons.
The arrests brought renewed attention to the Chechen community in Belgium and its ties to extremist groups.
The Chechens are regularly portrayed in a negative light in the Belgian press because of alleged links to gang violence.
Yet there has so far been no ISIS-claimed attack organised by Chechens in Belgium. None of the perpetrators of the biggest ISIS attack on Belgian soil, which killed 32 people in 2016, had Chechen links.
