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Paris Attack Suspect ‘Targeted Brussels,’ Arrested And Held In Bruges

By Jessica Dafoe
Published on: 08:17 PST, Mar 20, 2016

There is new information about the Paris attacks suspect, Salah Abdeslam, who was an active attacker in the November 13 gun suicide attacks on the French that killed 130 people.

As the Associated French Press shares, a top Belgian official informed reporters on Sunday that Abdeslam also meant to target Brussels in an attack. The lawyer of the most wanted suspect in the case has begun a fight against extradition to France.

The publication shares the attacker’s status at the moment.

“Abdeslam is held in a high security jail on charges of ‘terrorist murder’ for his role in the November 13 gun and suicide attacks on the French capital, which killed 130 people.The Belgian-born French citizen, who was caught unarmed after being shot in the leg during a Friday police raid in Brussels, told interrogators he had planned to blow himself up at the Stade de France stadium in Paris but had backed out at the last minute.”

Once captured, the terrorist was taken to a high-security prison in Bruges, a northwestern city in the nation. The Belgian Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, reported on Sunday that the 26-year-old had also targeted the capital of Belgium. Investigators have shared details of the case and Abdeslam’s intentions based on what they’ve discovered.

“..he was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons, in the first investigations and we have found a new network around him in Brussels.”

Police are still working to track down additional attackers from the November 13 massacre.

“We are sure that for the moment we have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure there are others.”

As it stands, the suspect is set to be extradited to France. However, Sven Mary, the lawyer of Abdeslam, is fighting to keep his client in Bruges due to “a legal complaint against a French prosecutor who divulged the details of the first interrogation with the suspect to journalists on Saturday.”

The situation that has caused the complaint and has given cause for Mary’s client brought about a statement on the issue to reporters.

“I don’t understand why a prosecutor in Paris has to communicate at this stage on an investigation in Belgium. Abdeslam is worth gold. He is collaborating, he’s communicating, he is not using his right to remain silent.”

The violation that Sven is referring to in regards to the French prosecutor who spoke out of turn about a case in Belgium is communicated by the publication.

“Paris prosector Francois Molins on Saturday told reporters Abdeslam had played a ‘central role’ in planning the November attacks, which targeted bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall and were claimed by the Islamic State group (IS).”

Molins also spoke about the suspect’s brother who blew himself up in a restaurant in the east end of Paris and claimed that Abdeslam was planning to do the same then changed his mind.

French President, Francois Hollande, spoke on the activities of the suspect and shared that he was “directly linked to the preparation, the organisation and, unfortunately, the perpetration of these attacks.”

After Abdeslam was arrested Friday, Francois Hollande made it known that he wanted the suspect transferred as soon as possible to France. The French Interior Minister communicated what this arrest means to the tracking of the remaining suspects at large and the ISIS military regime.

“Abdeslam’s arrest in the gritty Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels was hailed by European and US leaders, while French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said it dealt a “major blow” to IS jihadists operating in Europe.”

The Guardian notes that the ties in the network of attackers were made during the youth of petty crime and drug violations, later turning to extremism.

[Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images]

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