Hundreds of members of the army’s special forces have launched a major search operation for a heavily armed Belgian soldier who is on the run after threatening the country’s top virologist and vowing to fight to the death against restrictions from the coronavirus. Well-trained soldier Jurgen Conings, 46, disappeared on Monday after threatening Marc Van Ranst, a well-known academic, who became a public figure in Belgium during the coronavirus crisis.
The soldier is thought to be on the run in the Hoge Kempen forest after stealing four rocket launchers, a machine gun and a pistol from one of the garrisons where he worked. He left several notes, including one addressed to his family, underlining that he could no longer live in a society where politicians and virologists have robbed people of everything. Conings warned that he would join the resistance and that he would not give up.
On Wednesday evening, the federal prosecutor’s office said about 250 police officers and soldiers had been deployed in Hoge Kempen National Park, northeast, near the border with the Netherlands. Several gunshots were heard as armed officers entered the park with armored vehicles and helicopters in aid from above./Top Channel
