Brussels—Belgium’s National Security Council convened Tuesday morning after a suspect was arrested due to a bomb alert in a popular shopping center.
The suspect was arrested at City2, a shopping mall, wearing a suspicious belt. Police are trying to determine whether the suspect was carrying explosives. The mall was evacuated during the alert and roads around the area blocked off.
Brussels prosecutors said they were investigating the incident and confirmed the suspect had been arrested.

Police cars block the area as officers gather at the scene of a bomb alert at the City2 shopping mall in the Rue Neuve in the city center of Brussels on June 21, 2016.

There is skepticism as to whether the threat was real given a number of false alarms in recent days, including the evacuation of the Brussels central train station on Sunday. Belgian police are on a heightened alert and Prime Minister Charles Michel said security services are acting with a lot of vigilance.
“The situation is under control,” Mr. Michel said, after canceling his planned appearance on a popular morning radio show to attend the meeting of the council at the country’s Crisis Center.
After the meeting the Crisis Center announced the country’s terror level would remain at three, the second highest-level.

Reuters also reported Belgian police detained a man near a central Brussels shopping center early on Tuesday, prompting a meeting of the prime minister and the national crisis response center after initial suspicions that he was carrying explosives.
A security source later told Reuters no explosives had been found on the suspect.
The area around the City2 shopping center, a major commercial hub in the middle of the Belgian capital, was sealed off, although the nearby metro station was still open.
A spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor said the man was arrested at 5:30 a.m. and the army bomb disposal team was brought in to verify whether he was armed with explosives.
Television footage showed a large police presence in neighboring streets
Belgium’s crisis center, which coordinates security measures, said it was holding a meeting, with Prime Minister Charles Michel and Interior Minister Jan Jambon present, to discuss the incident.
Michel had been expected to appear on an early morning radio show before rushing off to the meeting.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, 21 June 2016