Paris Attacks: Authorities Search For On-The-Run Terrorist Salah Abdeslam

One week after the Paris attacks, investigations continue as authorities search for Salah Abdeslam. On Wednesday, the leader of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed, along with a female cousin, Hasna Ait Boulahcen. She detonated a suicide bomb as authorities closed in on a residence in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb. A third body, which has not yet been identified, was found at the scene.

As the Inquistr previously reported, Boulahcen had recently become radicalized, and formerly was a party girl who drank, smoked, and had many boyfriends. Her brother claimed she abandoned this lifestyle within the last month to join ISIS, and even considered moving to Syria, but instead, she chose to work in Paris with Abaaoud.

Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French citizen, born in Belgium, is now Europe’s most wanted man and remains at large. According to The Mirror, there is an image circulating online of him disguised, wearing thick glasses and a black wig. He is known as the eighth person in the Paris attacks, and is the only one of the terrorists who remains alive. There are reports which state that he may now be in Belgium.

Where’s Europe’s most wanted man? Wigged jihadi now hated by ISIS is still on the run https://t.co/mSaLW2jC0f Could be anywhere thanks to EU

— Mr Normal ? (@PaulWilko657) November 20, 2015

He wandered the streets of Paris on Friday, November 13. He was briefly pulled over by police near the French-Belgian border, on Saturday morning, but was later released. He had lived in Molenbeek, Belgium, a Brussels municipality. Law enforcement raided Abdeslam’s home on Monday, but no evidence was collected, and no arrests where made.

On Friday, November 20, Belgian authorities reported that they had new information on the whereabouts of Abdeslam, and that he may be in Brussels. Paris authorities claim that he is the terrorist who rented a black Volkswagen Golf that was found near the Bataclan Theater, where nearly 90 people were massacred. Salah’s brother, Brahim Abdeslam, 31, died when he detonated his suicide vest shortly after the attacks.

One of Abdeslam’s friends, whom he reportedly spoke with on November 17, stated that Abdeslam regretted his part in the attacks which had “gone too far,” noted The Independent. He also told the friend, who wished to remain anonymous, that surrendering to authorities would result in serious reprisals from ISIS, because he did not complete the act of “martyrdom.” The report stated that, according to a French police source, “Nothing [in Abdeslam’s movements] answers the description of a pre-planned escape.”

It is possible he panicked or chickened out of killing himself. It is possible that he was disgusted by what he had been involved in or that his explosive suicide belt failed to detonate.

Mohamad Abdeslam, a third brother, said his family had no knowledge of the other two brothers’ involvement in the Paris attacks, according to an ABC.net.au report.

Me and my family are moved by what happened, we learned it through television, like most of you, and we could never have imagined that one of my brothers could be linked to this terror attack. We are an open-minded family. We never had any problem with the police. And you must also understand that because of the tragedy my parents are in shock. They don’t quite realize what has happened.

When Mohamad was asked if the family knew if the brothers were in Paris on what has become known as “Black Friday,” he said that the family learned of the attacks like everyone else–through the news media. Mohamad said he had no involvement, was briefly detained, then released.

Several unconfirmed sightings of #parisattacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam in Brussels in past 24 hours #9NEWS pic.twitter.com/2pyTvi71BH

— Sophie Walsh (@sophie_walsh9) November 20, 2015

Until recently, the brothers ran a bar in Belgium, but it was allegedly closed because drugs were found on the site and on customers who frequented the establishment. In a CNN interview, Mohamad asked Salah to surrender and “accept responsibility” if he was involved.

Salah’s involvement in the Paris attacks have left some who knew him shocked. Sheraz Sheik, a childhood friend, said Salah was not an “Islamist type of guy,” had friends, went out and never attended mosque, according to ABC.net.au.

He was really well dressed, wearing designer clothes, no beard, you know. A really smart guy, you know, gone to school and really intelligent. So I am really really shocked that he is implicated in something like that.

The Paris attacks have left not only the French, but the world shaken, and allies of France are aiding the country in finding all involved and bringing them to justice.

[Image: Paris Handout/The Independent]