Laptop containing plans of Belgian prime minister’s home found in bin near terrorists’ flat

Plans and photographs of the home and office of Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, have been found on a computer abandoned near a terrorist hideout in Brussels, according to Belgian sources.

The laptop was found in a bin near a flat in the Schaerbeek district that had been a makeshift bomb factory for the terrorists who killed 32 people and injured at least 340 in last week’s suicide bombings at Brussels airport and the city metro.

The find was first reported by several Belgian newspapers, including De Tijd and L’Echo, and has been confirmed by the Guardian. A well-placed source said: “We don’t know if they [the terrorists] were planning anything, but we do know they were investigating.”

The laptop contained information about the prime minister’s official residence and office at 16 rue de la Loi in central Brussels, as well as photographs of the building taken from the street.

A spokesman for Michel said reinforced security measures had already been in place for several months.

The neoclassical building at Rue de la Loi is less than 6km away from the rundown Schaerbeek flat that served as the terrorists’ hideout. It was from this fifth-floor flat that the suicide bomber Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and two accomplices made the journey to Zaventem airport on 22 March to launch the attacks against unsuspecting travellers.