Belgian prosecutors on Saturday charged four people rounded up in the past 24 hours with being part of a terrorist organization, adding it was still unsure whether Mohamed Abrini was the so-called “man in the hat” involved in the Brussels terror attacks.
Prosecutors said in a statement “it was not possible yet to confirm that Mohamed Abrini indeed was the third suspect” seen at the Brussels airport wearing a hat and glasses alongside the two suicide bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui.
The “man in the hat” is suspected to have fled without blowing up his bomb. It was later found abandoned at the airport.
Abrini had been on Europe’s most wanted list since CCTV footage at a gas station in northern France showed him with Paris suspect Salah Abdeslamtwo days before the deadly November attacks, which killed 130 people.
Abdeslam was arrested two weeks ago, four days before “ISIS” suicide bombers targeted the Brussels airport and a downtown metro stop on March 22, killing 32 people.
Prosecutors have charged four people with terrorism related offenses in connection with the Paris and Brussels terror attacks.
Prosecutors on Saturday also leveled terrorism charges against Swedish national Osman K.
He is believed to be Osman Krayem of the Swedish city of Malmo, who had gone to fight in Syria. Krayem is alleged to have bought the bags used in the Brussels bombings and was seen at the Maalbeek metro station in downtown Brussels before suicide bomber Khalid el-Bakraoui blew himself up.
Also charged for their role in the Brussels attacks were Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.
Two other suspects arrested since Friday were released after being questioned.
The charges follow a string of arrests that have shed light on the links between the IS terror network believed to be behind the Paris and Brussels attacks. Several of the attackers are believed to have spent time in Syria with the group, which has vowed further attacks in Europe.
Mohamed Abrini, the last fugitive suspect from the November Paris attacks, has been charged with participation in a terrorist group and terrorist murder, the Belgian prosecutor’s office said Saturday, a day after Abrini was arrested in Brussels.Belgium’s public prosecutor charged four people, including Abrini, with taking part in a terrorist organisation on Saturday.
Abrini was the last known Paris attacks suspect still on the run before his arrest in Brussels on Friday. The 31-year-old Belgian national of Moroccan origin was detained along with five other suspects, two of whom were released after being questioned, according to Belgian authorities.
The coordinated suicide attacks at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station killed 32 people on March 22. The suicide bomber at Maelbeek station has been identified as Khalid el-Bakraoui.
Rare success for Belgium
The latest arrests were a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been accused for months of mishandling the investigation. Both the interior and justice ministers have offered to resign.
Despite multiple arrests, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is considered likely.
Abrini went multiple times to Birmingham, England, last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity, a European security official told The Associated Press.
Abrini had not resurfaced since the emergence of surveillance video placing him in the convoy with the attackers headed to Paris. He also had ties to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who died in a police stand-off on November 18 and who was a childhood friend of brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks.
Friday marked three weeks to the day that authorities arrested Salah Abdeslam, who had been on the run for four months, in another Brussels neighbourhood. Abdeslam is awaiting extradition to France.
Source: FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS, April 9