jurgen coningsFor many, Jürgen Conings was ‘an ordinary boy’. Meanwhile, the ‘potentially violent extremist’ is the most wanted man in Belgium.
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His girlfriend may know him as a ‘teddy bear’, but Jürgen Conings (46) was known as a lot less cuddly by the Belgian intelligence service. The corporal who ran off with heavy weaponry, entrenched himself in Hoge Kempen National Park and who is wanted for threatening to carry out an attack on Belgian politicians and virologists (‘the regime’, in his words) was noted as a ‘ potentially violent extremist ‘.
According to the Belgian anti-terrorist organization Ocad, it is someone with extreme views who intends to use violence in its name, but who has not yet taken any concrete steps in that direction. The latter was now feared given the suicide note that Conings left behind.
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The extreme views of Belgium’s most sought-after man are rooted in the extreme right-wing ideology. On his Facebook profile, Conings is said to have recently tagged with the rune sign used by the German SS. Belgian media report contacts with Tomas Boutens, another ex-military and notorious Belgian neo-Nazi. He was once convicted of plans to murder a number of prominent Belgians, with the intention of pitting immigrants and natives against each other.
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Friends of Conings often describe the super-fit resident of Dilsen-Stokkem (near Sittard on the Flemish side of the Maas) as ‘an ordinary boy’, trained as a welder and with a logo of football club Anderlecht tattooed on his chest. At the age of 18 he enlisted in the Belgian army. He made a career and took part in missions in the former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Rambo
Conings describes himself as an experienced sniper, specialized in camouflage techniques. He then shares the latter with the derailed film hero Rambo, of whom he has some traits. Rambo, trained in survival techniques, had problems with the authorities and also got a large police force after him in the forests of Washington state.
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The foreign military missions are said to have also left traces on Conings, at least as suggested by Tomas Boutens on Facebook. “Out of respect for his privacy, it is not necessary to go into detail,” says Boutens in the newspaper The standard is described as ‘the guru of the extreme right in Flanders’.
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Conings, who has two children from a previous marriage, had problems and extreme views. These led to him losing his career in the army. In the end he did not become the shooting instructor he wanted to be but someone who prepares the weapons for target practice. This also gave him easy access to the arsenal with which he hid in the forests of Belgian Limburg.
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Research
The Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder has now ordered an investigation into how it was possible that someone with a stamp of ‘potentially violent extremist’ had normal access to the arsenal of the Belgian army where he could unhindered four rocket launchers, a machine gun, a pistol and Could take 2000 bullets. Conings had previously received a disciplinary sentence for open threats from Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst.
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Girlfriend and primary school teacher Gwendy (46) describes everything that is happening now as a nightmare from which she never wakes up. “This is not my Jürgen, not the dear friend who is such a good daddy to our children.” Wendy would now assist the Flemish police in the search in the forest, in the hope that he surrender.
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This is what local residents say about the Belgian military:
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