Belgium remains on level 3 alert after the Moscow massacre – 650 people are being watched

In a level 3 alert (up to a maximum of 4) remains the after-slaughter on 650 people being monitored. Belgium’s counter-terrorism agency Ocam justified its decision not to raise the level of the terrorist threat, despite the fact that neighbouring France raised the level of alert to the maximum level, after the massacre in Moscow. “The system for determining the level of threat is a political decision in France, while it is an independent decision of Ocam in Belgium. The comparison is difficult to do. Level 3 on a scale of 4, across Belgium, means that the threat is considered serious,” said the Belgian Minister of Justice. It is no surprise that Ocam in Belgium, which uses a different scale of threat, does not raise the level of threat to the maximum. Level 4 means that a very serious threat of attack is “imposed”, according to an Ocam spokesman. The alert level in Belgium rose to 3 after the terrorist attack of a Tunisian jihadist on 16 October that cost life to two Swedes. The terrorist blow had also taken over the Islamic State. Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 27th, the National Security Council will be held, but as noted in the Belgian press, the meeting was scheduled long before the appalling attack that struck the Russian capital. It is worth noting that the Belgian counter-terrorism agency Ocam has announced today that it currently has 650 people currently under observation who are considered “extremists” or “terrorists”. These persons are subject to priority monitoring and are displayed in a database accessible to all security forces. Overall, 88% of these people are in a jihadist movement, 8% belong to far-right movements and 2% to far-left movements. “The threat is not reduced: our analyses show that the average threat coming from individuals included in the joint database has increased slightly,” explained Ocam Director Gert Vercoteren.