Abdeslam was extradited from Belgium to France earlier Wednesday in what Berton described as a “muscular operation” involving an early-morning transfer from his cell in Belgium and a cross-border helicopter ride.
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Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national of Moroccan descent who grew up in Belgium, is believed to be the last surviving member of the IS affiliated terror cell that killed 130 people in the French capital in November last year.
Brahim who was Salah Abdeslam’s elder brother, used to operate a bar in the Brussels district of Molenbreek, blew himself up in a suicide bomb attack on one of the many Paris cafes aimed by a group of attackers armed with AK-47 rifles and suicide vests, based on the Reuters report.
Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18 after four months on the run as Europe’s most wanted man. But clues linking Abdeslam to March’s attacks in Brussels, which killed 34 people, have been piling up as details emerge about the men involved in the attack.
Abdeslam has also been linked to several of the perpetrators in the Brussels terrorist attacks, but has not been charged in relation to those events.
Belgian lawyer Sven Mary labelled Abdeslam a product of the “Grand Theft Auto generation, that thinks it is living in a video game”.
He told iTele TV that Abdeslam wants to talk, “he has things to say, that he wants to explain his route to radicalization” as well as his role in the attacks – but not take responsibility for the crimes of others.
Last month, Belgian police arrested another key Paris suspect named Mohamed Abrini, who was seen with Abdeslam before the attacks, and who also turned out to be the so-called “man in the hat” seen in CCTV footage with two bombers shortly before they staged the Brussels airport assault.
In recent weeks, links between the Paris and Brussels attacks have become increasingly clear, with significant crossover between the suspects in each attack.
Sven Mary, in a profile published Wednesday by the French daily Liberation, said Abdeslam was a “little jerk among Molenbeek’s little delinquents, more a follower than a leader”. “What the Islamic State brought in its wake was a new strain of Islam which legitimised their radical approach”. The group had initially planned a second attack in France, officials believe, but opted to strike in Brussels as counterterrorism units closed in.
He was later charged in a French court with murder connected to terrorism, participation in a terrorist conspiracy and possession of weapons and explosives, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced.
Mary later cautioned against exaggerating Abdeslam’s role.
“I expect he will cooperate but I am very cautious”, she told French broadcaster BFM. “This person is the key witness but we are perhaps hoping for too much”.
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Information for this article was contributed by Lori Hinnant, Philippe Sotto and Sylvie Corbet of The Associated Press.
