‘Man in the hat’ Brussels terror bombing suspect Mohamed Abrini charged in France for Paris killings
The suspected ISIS terrorist had been handed over to French cops for questioning by their Belgian counterparts
BRUSSELS terror bombing suspect Mohamed Abrini has been charged over the Paris terror attacks, French lawyers have revealed.
Belguim had handed over Abrini, the "man in the hat" Brussels Airport bomber, to France for questioning about the 2015 Paris attacks.
Abrini was captured in Brussels in April and is suspected of involvement in the Brussels attacks and the Paris killings, both of which were claimed by the Islamic State group.
"In the framework of the investigation related to the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, Mohamed Abrini was surrendered to the French judicial authorities for a period of one day," the Belgian prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Belgian investigators have said the Brussels airport and metro bombers who killed 32 people were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the November 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 dead.
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Abrini, dubbed the "man in the hat" from images caught on security cameras, fled the airport without detonating his suitcase bomb after his accomplices Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui set off theirs, killing 16 people and themselves.
Abrini had a record as a long-time petty criminal who grew up in the troubled Molenbeek area of Brussels with Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the group that carried out the Paris attacks.
Nicknamed "Brioche" after his days working in a bakery, Abrini is thought to have given up training as a welder at the age of 18 before gravitating towards extremism.
The Belgian of Moroccan origin was seen at a petrol station north of Paris two days before the November 13 attacks with prime suspect Abdeslam, who drove one of the vehicles used in the attacks.
Belgian authorities have charged Abrini with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group and terrorist murders" over the massacres in the French capital.
Identified as a radical Islamist by Belgian investigators, Abrini is believed to have briefly visited Syria last year. His younger brother Suleiman, 20, died there.
He was known to security services for belonging to the same cell as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the organisers of the Paris attacks who opened fire on bars, restaurants and a concert hall before he died.
More to follow.
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