The development was the latest step in a joint investigation by France and Belgium in the wake of the Brussels terror attack that killed 32 people last month.
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The recent spate of arrests was sparked by the detention in Brussels on 18 March of Salah Abdeslam, a key surviving suspect in the gun and bomb attacks on a concert hall, a stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris on 13 November 2015 killed 130 people. “That we are able to make this start only 12 days after the devastating attacks is a sign of our collective strength at Brussels Airport”, said airport CEO Arnaud Feit.
A third suspect has been been charged in connection with the foiled French terror attack, the Belgian federal prosecutor said Saturday, NBC News reported.
A Belgian court ruled Thursday that Abdeslam will be extradited, but it is unclear how French and Belgian authorities will carry out the extradition.
Police and a soldier secure an area outside an abandoned hotel while a wooded area around the hotel is searched, in Marke, Belgium, Thursday, March 31, 2016. Abdeslam originally objected to the extradition, but is now cooperating.
Belgium has increasingly found itself at the centre of Europe’s battle against terrorism and authorities have faced strong criticism for not doing enough to keep tabs on suspected extremists.
The main plot suspect is Reda Kriket, who was arrested near Paris last week after police found an arsenal of weapons and explosives at his home.
“As of tomorrow, Sunday, Brussels Airport should be partially operational”, Feist said at a news conference in a hotel near the airport, which is several miles northwest of Brussels, in the town of Zaventem.
Dutch authorities, at the insistence of their French counterparts, arrested a French citizen, Anis Bahri, 32, in Rotterdam on March 27.
After his arrest, Abdeslam was initially questioned over his alleged role in the Paris attacks.
Kriket’s arrest halted an “imminent” attack on France, according to the country’s interior minister and the public prosecutor in Paris.
Investigators believe the attacks in Paris and Brussels were carried out by terrorists from the same Islamic State network.
Also Saturday, Belgian police, some on horseback, moved in to detain some two dozen protesters at Brussels’ Bourse Square, breaking up a demonstration to protest Islamophobia.
The flat and another property used to prepare for the Paris attackshad been rented by Khalid el-Bakraoui, who would go on to blow himself up at a Brussels Metro station.
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Abdeslam has already been linked to at least two of the bombers.
