Jurgen Conings: Body of armed Belgian anti-vaccine fugitive found
Police had launched a manhunt after the soldier had disappeared from his home on 17 May.
Sunday 20 June 2021 22:03, UK
The body of a fugitive soldier who had gone missing with聽a stash of weapons after threatening a virologist has been found by Belgian police.
The Belgian federal prosecutors' office said in a statement that Jurgen Conings had probably "died by suicide by firearm" but the cause of death would "have to be established during a future forensic examination".
The body was found by people walking in the woods near the town of Dilsen-Stockem.
Conings, a soldier, had been the subject of a manhunt that was launched after he left his home near the Dutch border on 17 May with weapons including anti-tank rockets.
The fugitive had threatened virologist Marc Van Ranst for supporting COVID-19 vaccines as well as Belgian institutions and celebrities.
Police suspected Conings was heavily armed as weapons including anti-tank rocket launchers and ammunition, taken from a military base, had been found in his abandoned car near Dilsen in west Belgium.
The army deployed de-mining equipment and armoured vehicles to help police searching Hoge Kempen, a 12,000-hectare (30,000 acre) park of woodland, lakes and dunes.
Belgian authorities said Conings's far-right tendencies had landed him on a list of potential terrorists compiled by OCAM, an organisation that assesses the threat of terrorism in Belgium.