Five people, whose identities have not been unveiled have been arrested, near the laboratories. They also added the attack is probably not linked to terrorism, and is a criminal act.
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Belgium’s terror alert level remains high since bomb attacks on Brussels airport and the city’s metro, claimed by so-called Islamic State, that killed 32 people in March.
The independent institute, linked to Belgium’s federal justice body, is in Neder-Over-Heembeek, a suburb in the north of Brussels.
State broadcaster RTBF reported Monday that a vehicle forced its way into the site “before exploding a bomb” about 2 a.m. (0000 GMT).
The fire severely damaged the laboratories in the NICC, where important information concerning several ongoing investigations and legal cases were stored and analyzed.
The incident happened at around 2am on Monday morning when a vehicle rammed through security gates and a fire was started in Brussels’ criminal institute.
A vehicle was reportedly rammed into the Brussels Criminology Institute earlier this morning.
Van Wymersch said the crime lab, which gathers and analyses evidence, “was not chosen by chance”.
Belgian law enforcement released on Friday the five people detained earlier in the day over suspected connection to the Brussels Criminology Institute arson without pressing any charges, the Public Prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
She said it was not yet clear how they started the fire.
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“The explosion was extremely powerful”, said fire service spokesman Pierre Meys, according to AFP.
