(21 Dec 2007)
1. Exterior of Zaventem (Brussels) airport
2. Close of sign reading (English) "Brussels Airport"
3. Police checking handbags belong to two women
4. Various of police outside the airport
5. Police officer checking cars
6. Police officer as people taking luggage out of car
7. Armed police outside air port walking in
8. Various of group of security staff inside airport
9. People and families waiting inside airport
10. Wide of airport interior showing departure and arrival board
11. Close of departures board
12. Security talking to passenger
13. Passengers with luggage waiting in airport
14. Wide exterior of North (Noord) Station in Brussels
15. Interior of station with police officers patrolling
16. Close of police officers walking through the station
17. Close of a gun carried by policeman
18. Close of the back of police officers walking patrolling the station
19. Platform at the station with sign reading (Dutch) "Brussels - North"
20. Wide of passengers waiting on platform
21. Train moving on tracks
22. Wide of interior of station showing the arrivals and departure board
23. Various of police patrolling the station
STORYLINE:
The police presence in Brussels was stepped up on Friday, following the arrest of 14 Muslim extremists who were allegedly caught planning to break an al-Qaida sympathiser out of jail.
Police swarmed around the Belgian capital as a preventative measure against any possible attacks during the Christmas festive season.
Security was tightened at Brussel's main Zaventem airport in the wake of the alleged plot to free Nizar Trabelsi, a 37-year-old Tunisian jailed for planning an attack on US air base personnel.
Armed police directed traffic outside the airport terminal and security checks were stepped up.
Officers were also out in force at North Station in Brussels, following the Interior Ministry calling on citizens to be vigilant throughout the Christmas period.
In night-long raids around the country, police picked up 14 suspects and found arms and explosives which were apparently to be used in an attempt to free Trabelsi.
Security was immediately heightened at airports, subway stations and other public places across Brussels.
The US Embassy also issued a warning to Americans that "there is currently a heightened risk of terrorist attack in Brussels" although it had no indication of any American targets.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the government had information suggesting preparation of an attack.
Trabelsi was arrested two days after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Trabelsi, a 37-year-old Tunisian who played soccer for several German teams, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison four years ago.
He had admitted planning to drive a car bomb into the canteen at Kleine Brogel, a Belgian air base where about 100 American military personnel were stationed.
According to the US-based military affairs think tank, GlobalSecurity.org, the Kleine Brogel Air Base is home to Belgian F-16 warplanes equipped with nuclear weapons that are under US control.
Trabelsi, who testified that he intended to kill American soldiers, says he met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and asked to become a suicide bomber.
He was arrested in Brussels on September 13, 2001. Police later discovered the raw materials for a huge bomb in the back of a Brussels restaurant.
The federal prosecutor's office said the 14 arrested overnight were planning to free the prisoner by force.
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