The arrest of Abdeslam appears to have uncovered far more extensive jihadists cells than previously thought, turning the attention once again to homegrown European terrorism, and in particular, hotspots such as Brussels’ Molenbeek district, where the suspect had been living prior to the Paris attacks.
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One of them was Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested Friday and is believed to have been a key member of the team that orchestrated the November attacks that left 130 dead. Mr. Abdeslam was on the run for four months before being captured on Friday by police in the Molenbeek suburb of Brussels, where he grew up and the attacks were planned.
The two got in touch with this individual after escaping from their hiding place in the Forest district of Brussels during a gun battle with police Tuesday. At one point, Belgian authorities locked down their capital for several days in November but failed to find him.
Abdeslam, captured Friday in a police raid in Brussels, was charged Saturday with “terrorist murder” by Belgian authorities.
Laachraoui went to Syria in February 2013 and was on a list authorities had of Belgian citizens who had traveled there.
In a joint press conference with his French counterpart, Frédéric van Leeuw, the Belgian federal prosecutor, said: “We have quite a few pieces of the puzzle…but we are still far from completing the puzzle”, adding that Belgium has opened 60 anti-terror investigations this year and 300 in 2015.
He also said Abdeslam wanted to be a suicide bomber but he backed out. “The investigators and prosecutors – and I don’t often say this – have done an excellent job”, Mary was quoted as saying in Monday’s De Morgen daily.
Abdeslam has a court hearing on Wednesday.
Abdeslam, who was shot in the leg and caught by police in Brussels after an intense four-month manhunt, spent his first night in a high security prison in the northwestern Belgian city of Bruges.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told a news conference that his government has no “political objections” to handing Abdeslam over to the French, but wants to fully respect Belgian judicial procedures.
A top French prosecutor says he expects Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam to be handed over to authorities in France. Most of the Paris attackers died on the night of the attacks, including Abdeslam’s brother Brahim, who blew himself up.
He was seen at a petrol station north of Paris with Salah Abdeslam, with Abrini driving one of the vehicles used in the assaults.
France is seeking Abdeslam’s extradition for trial there, but Mary said he would fight any attempt to hand over his client and that investigators have much to learn from the suspect, who was born in Belgium but has French and Moroccan nationality.
The lawyer added that France “has nothing to teach us” and should not criticise the Belgian justice system.
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He used the same false name at the border between Austria and Hungary on September 9 when he was traveling with Abdeslam and Mohamed Belkaid. Belgium’s federal prosecutor has said the fugitive relied on a network of friends and relatives involved in drug dealing and petty crime.
