Belgian police and special forces, backed by armoured vehicles, are hunting for a rogue soldier with ties to violent right-wing groups for a third day.
Jurgen Conings, 46, disappeared earlier this week after making a series of social media threats related to COVID restrictions. A former military shooting instructor, Conings stole body armour, an automatic weapon, and at least two anti-tank rockets before disappearing.
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The search currently centres around a national park in northern Belgium close to the border with the Netherlands. Members of the public have been urged not to approach Conings but to report any sightings to police immediately.
Conings had been a top marksmanship instructor for the Belgian military before revelations about his ties to extremist groups came to the attention of authorities earlier this year, said a Belgian military intelligence officer, who declined to be named while speaking of a national security incident.
“Conings was one of about 100 [soldiers or defence employees] that were flagged as having right-wing extremist ties and as a result of the ongoing investigation he was demoted two ranks from instructor to assistant,” said the official. “As an assistant, however, he still had access to the weapons armoury and stole a submachine gun, a pistol, body armour and at least two anti tank rockets. Obviously we will need to examine our processes for identifying dangerous radicals in our ranks but we will address this after the current threat.”
Conings disappeared leaving work on the 17th of May after authorities became alarmed over a series of threats he appeared to direct at top Belgian officials involved in battling the COVID pandemic. The concern turned into fear and a manhunt on Tuesday when it was determined that he was missing, along with a personal arsenal of military grade weapons.
“These [threats], along with certain personality traits and his knowledge of firearms, have led the authorities to take the facts seriously,” said the Belgian Federal Prosecutor in a release Wednesday evening.
After authorities found Conings’ car – which had been previously spotted with the military weapons in the boot – the manhunt became focused around the Hoge Kempen National Park in the Flanders region of Belgium.
“He appears to be in the park but we have to assume he’s using his skills to set a deadly ambush so the search will proceed very slowly and methodically,” said the official. “There is no rush because we have him contained.”
At least 250 police officers backed by a smaller, unknown number of Belgian Special Forces troops are involved in the search, which includes two armoured personnel carriers, helicopters and other search and rescue assets.
