Belgian Defence has already spent over €650,000 on the manhunt for armed career soldier Jürgen Conings, who went missing over one month ag

The army is supporting the police in its search of Conings, which started on 17 May, when he stole an arsenal of deadly weapons from a military barracks and disappeared, not only by providing intelligence but also troops and equipment.


Most of the costs have gone to materials and fuel, but also include the extra premiums paid to the soldiers (who are sometimes mobilised for weekend searches), according to reports from Le Soir.

The Ministry of Defence has also made several armoured vehicles available for the investigation, as well as an NH90 attack helicopter.

A first report from the internal inspection on the flaws in the monitoring of Conings will be presented to the members of the Defence Committee on Wednesday morning.

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As police continue to hunt for ex-soldier Jürgen Conings, Euro MP Tom Vandendriessche explains to RT why he’s struck a chord with unhappy voters who share his anti-establishment sentiment and are tuning into Flemish nationalism.
As the manhunt for a heavily-armed Flemish Rambo continues into its second month and with police seemingly no closer to finding the elusive former corporal, the saga has exposed Belgium’s deeply flawed political system that has left millions, just like the fugitive, feeling disaffected and ignored, and facing a democratic deficit.
And although he was on a terrorist watchlist for expressing far- right views, the only offence Conings has committed since he disappeared is the removal of weapons from an army stock. But that hasn’t stopped the media stoking up fears over a ‘10-person hitlist’ he’d allegedly left behind.

Since May 17, the Flemish Rambo has become a lightning rod for the left-behinds of Belgium, not just for his right-wing allegiance, but for his anti-establishment views that are commonplace in the northern region of Belgium, as shown by the success of right-wing nationalist parties like Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (New Flemish Alliance or N-VA) and Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) of which Conings is a former member.

The support for Conings morphed on to Facebook where a page declaring “As 1 behind Jürgen” attracted 50,000 followers before the tech giant decided to pull the plug and take it down amid fears that, somehow, this was encouraging violence.

Speaking exclusively to RT.com, Belgian Euro MP Tom Vandendriessche, a senior figure in Vlaams Belang, told me, “There was a lot of support for this guy with 50,000 people in just two or three days on a Facebook page. But these people are not supporting a terrorist.

“Conings has grown into something more; he has become a symbol of someone standing up against the government. However, I have the impression that he just flipped at a certain moment. He thought he needed to do something, eventually he did it and now he’s disappeared. It’s a tragedy.”

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Last Edited by The Future Hegemon on 06/18/2021 12:08 PM