‘Belgian Rambo’: body of fugitive right-wing soldier who threatened top virologist found in forest
- A manhunt was launched last month after Jurgen Conings went missing and his car was found with four stolen rocket launchers inside
- Conings had threatened a leading virologist who has become a target for conspiracy theorists, Covid-19 sceptics and the Flemish far-right in Belgium
A body found on Sunday in eastern Belgium is probably that of a soldier suspected of extreme-right views who went missing after stealing arms from a military base and threatening public figures, prosecutors said.
“According to the first elements of the investigation, it is Jurgen Conings,” a statement said. “The cause of death is probably, according to initial findings, attributable to suicide by firearm,” it added, though this would be confirmed at a later date.
Hundreds of police and army personnel were deployed last month on the hunt for Conings, 46, after his abandoned vehicle was found in the area near the Dutch border with four rocket launchers inside.
Conings, who reportedly served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, was believed to remain armed and dangerous after he was suspected of stealing weapons from a military base where he worked as an instructor.
The discovery was first reported after a town mayor on Sunday said he had found the body during a bike ride in a forest near where Conings’s car had been found last month.
“During my mountain bike tour this morning, in a part where few people come, I smelled a strong corpse odour,” Johan Tollenaere of the eastern town of Maaseik, told VRT news.
“I immediately thought of Jurgen Conings and notified the police. They found the body,” he said.