The young man of Moroccan descent started his internship at the police headquarters' IT department in February. This was a few weeks after the anti-terrorism operation in Verviers, which had brought federal police in a heightened state of readiness.

The man's peculiar behaviour had started to raise suspicion, informs NSPV police union Chairman Gert Cockx. "The young man was attracting attention for asking his colleagues all sorts of questions about the security of his working environment, about the available armoury, and about the presence of a certain person (General Commissioner Catherine De Bolle's office is in the same facility, red.)."

"In short, he was asking some strange questions, which made colleagues question his intentions", reports Mr Cockx. At closer inspection, it appeared that the intern was openly supporting Islamic State on Facebook, and was making extremist statements. "It was at this point that we realised we probably hired the wrong person for the job." But it was too late, because the two-day internship had already come to an end.

Mr Cockx says the incident proves that better screening is needed. "There are too many loopholes, and it's getting dangerous. We have to look at how it's possible that this man succeeded in being hired with police, and getting access to our databases."