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Final suspect wanted over Paris terror attacks reportedly arrested

Mobile phone footage has captured the moment a suspect believed to be the 'man in the hat' in the...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.03 8 Apr 2016


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Final suspect wanted over Pari...

Final suspect wanted over Paris terror attacks reportedly arrested

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.03 8 Apr 2016


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Mobile phone footage has captured the moment a suspect believed to be the 'man in the hat' in the Brussels Airport bombings was arrested.

Mohamed Abrini, who was one of Europe's most wanted men, was also the last suspect still at large following the Paris terror attacks.

In the video taken by a bystander, a man was seen lying face down on the ground before being dragged into a car by security forces.

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The arrest came as Belgian authorities held several people in connection with last month's suicide bombings which killed 32 people at Zaventem Airport and a metro station.

The 'man in the hat' was pictured alongside two bombers at the airport shortly before they blew themselves up in the departure hall. He then escaped.

If confirmed it was Abrini, it would mean he played a key role in both attacks carried out by an Islamic State cell.

The 30-year-old suspect, who is a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was reportedly arrested in the Anderlecht district of Brussels.

The area was home to several other suspects linked to both attacks.

Paris driver

His detention comes a day after authorities released new CCTV footage of the 'man in the hat', appealing for the public to help find him.

Abrini's DNA was believed to have been found in a flat in the Schaarbeek area of the city, where airport bombers Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui left from before they detonated their explosives.

It is believed a suspect who was detained with Abrini is Osama Krayem.

He was apparently filmed on CCTV at a shopping centre buying the suitcases that were used in the airport blasts.

Abrini was a key suspect wanted in connection with the Paris attacks on November 13th which claimed the lives of 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre.

Europol said he was filmed two days before the atrocities at a petrol station with another suspect Salah Abdeslam in Ressons, northern France, on the road to the French capital.

Europe's law enforcement agency said Abrini was driving a Renault Clio which was used in the Paris massacre.

He later disappeared and was described by Europol as armed and dangerous.

Abdeslam was detained last month in the Molenbeek district of Brussels a few days before the airport attacks.

His lawyer said he had intended to blow himself up in Paris but backed out at the last minute, fleeing instead to the Belgian capital.

He was arrested in Brussels on March 18th following a four-month manhunt and is being held in a high-security prison in Bruges while awaiting his extradition to France.


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