Belgian police are today hunting an armed robber who carried out a raid on a bank inside the European Parliament’s headquarters in Brussels.
MEPs and Parliament staff were ordered to stay in their offices after a man wielding a gun vaulted the counter of the ING branch on the ground floor at around 4pm and demanded money.
Soon afterwards the building was swarming with police amid fears that the gunman was in the building, and a helicopter was deployed.
But police said it was believed the robber had escaped. It was not clear what was stolen but it is believed no one was hurt.
Police are trying to establish how the man breached security at all EU buildings in Brussels.
Many MEPs were on the premises, attending committee meetings. One official working for the Socialist group said: “The building was sealed off for a time and we were told to stay in our offices. Everyone’s been using e-mail and text to keep in touch.”
The raid came a day after the European Commission warned that spies were increasingly targeting EU institutions - and they could be anyone, including a “pretty trainee with long legs and blonde hair”.
A leaked security note said the threat from spying was “increasing day by day”, and urged eurocrats to beware when recruiting non-EU nationals.
“It could be the pretty trainee with long legs and blonde hair,” warned Commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi.
PA