False alarm as Brussels driver makes bomb threat

A driver who said his car was packed with explosives sparked a security alert in Brussels on Tuesday, but prosecutors said nothing had been found in the vehicle.

Police had set up a security cordon in the Molenbeek neighbourhood — leaving around 400 people confined inside while police inspected the car — after its driver made the threat.

The man ran at least one red light, leading to a police chase that resulted in the vehicle colliding with other cars. Police shot at the car, prosecutors said.

After being stopped, the driver “immediately declared he had explosives in the vehicle”.

But a spokesman for the Brussels prosecution service later told AFP that “nothing suspicious was found in the vehicle”.

“The suspect is of Rwandan nationality, born in 1981, and was not known to the police or justice authorities,” he added.

Belgium has been on high alert following a double bombing on its metro and airport that killed 32 people and wounded more than 140 in March 2016.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, as were the November 2015 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead.

Several of those responsible for the Paris attacks came from Molenbeek, home to a large Moroccan immigrant community, and had hidden there after the carnage before finally being tracked down by the police.