Abdeslam was being treated in a Brussels hospital after sustaining wounds during his arrest. Abdeslam could appeal the extradition, but under the European principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions, that would only give him a short respite.
Advertisement
After the bloodbath, Salah Abdeslam evaded a dragnet to return to Brussels. So far, all indications are that he was one of the two suspects who managed to escape after the police action on Tuesday.
He may be assisted by his Belgian lawyer, identified by Belgian daily Le Soir as Sven Mary.
“We got him”, Belgian government minister Theo Francken said on Twitter.
“We want him to be questioned and put on trial in France”, Hollande said.
On Saturday, Interpol called on countries to be vigilant at their borders, saying accomplices of Abdeslam may try to flee in the wake of his capture.
Some neighbors were clearly shaken at the fact that the young man with French nationality but close ties to Molenbeek had been living in their midst despite the huge police manhunt.
Abdeslam, on the other hand, is a childhood friend of the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks.
Investigators believe Abdeslam hired one of he cars used in the attacks and then used it to drive suicide bombers to the Stade de France with the task to then blow himself up.
The attack strained relations between Brussels and Paris, with French officials suggesting Belgium was lax in monitoring the activities of hundreds of militants returned from Syria.
The dead suspect, Mohamed Belkaid, had previously been sought in connection with the Paris terrorist attacks, Belgian prosecutors announced yesterday shortly before launching the operation that led to Abdeslam’s arrest.
They also said the Algerian was wanted, under the false name Samir Bouzid, since he appeared on CCTV wiring cash to a woman just after the Paris attacks. According to Guardian, the 26-year-old was shot in the leg during the raid following which he was captured alive.
The French president says the number of those involved in the last November attacks in Paris is more than what was initially thought. Mr Hollande is holding an emergency defence meeting in Paris.
Four others have been taken into custody along with Abdelslam, including an alleged accomplice, Monir Ahmed al-Hadj, along with three members of his family.
The precise role of Abdeslam, a former small-time criminal who helped run his brother’s bar in Molenbeek, is unclear but he is suspected of helping manufacture explosives, hiring cars, renting hideouts and transporting jihadists for the 13 November attacks. He said authorities must continue hunting all those who organized or facilitated the attack.
Some 130 people were killed and dozens wounded in multiple attacks in Paris on 13 November. Police had issued an global arrest warrant for him after the terror attacks in Paris.
Advertisement
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir Police officers guard an entrance of a school during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium Police officers guard an entrance of a school during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium Police at the scene of a security operation in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek in Brussels, Belgium, March 18, 2016.
