Belgium to extradite Paris suspect Abdeslam to France

Logistics coordinator of last year’s deadly terror attacks ‘wants to cooperate with the French authorities,’ lawyer says

Lawyer Cedric Moisse talks to the press as he leaves the council chamber in Brussels, where two terrorism cases will be heard, on March 31, 2016. (AFP / BELGA AND Belga / Eric LALMAND / Belgium OUT)
Lawyer Cedric Moisse talks to the press as he leaves the council chamber in Brussels, where two terrorism cases will be heard, on March 31, 2016. (AFP / BELGA AND Belga / Eric LALMAND / Belgium OUT)

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities decided Thursday to extradite Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to France, as bomb-damaged Brussels airport said it was ready to reopen although flights would not immediately resume.

Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect in the November terror attacks in Paris in which 130 people were killed, was arrested in Brussels on March 18 after four months on the run as Europe’s most wanted man.

Four days after his arrest, the Belgian capital was struck by coordinated Islamic State group bombings at the airport and a metro station, carried out by suicide attackers with links to Abdeslam and the Paris attacks cell.

Abdeslam’s lawyer earlier said that his 26-year-old client had agreed to be transferred to France under a European arrest warrant, clearing the way for a fast-track extradition.

“What Salah Abdeslam wants to make known is that he wants to cooperate with the French authorities. These are the words he wants to make known,” his lawyer Cedric Moisse told reporters in Brussels.

Salah Abdeslam, suspected of involvement in the November 13, 2015. terror attacks in Paris, with his friend Hamza Attou seen entering a convenience store at 9:45 a.m. on 14 November near the France-Belgium border.  (Screen capture: BFM TV)
Salah Abdeslam, suspected of involvement in the November 13, 2015. terror attacks in Paris, with his friend Hamza Attou seen entering a convenience store at 9:45 a.m. on 14 November near the France-Belgium border. (Screen capture: BFM TV)

Abdeslam’s arrest was considered a rare success in Belgium’s anti-terror fight, although he was found just metres (feet) from his family home. He has refused to talk since the Brussels bombings.

“As Salah Abdeslam had declared to agree to be transferred to France, a federal magistrate took his formal declaration today… The transfer is possible,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

“Belgian and French authorities will now consider jointly on how to proceed further in the execution of the transfer,” the statement added.

French President Francois Hollande announced immediately after Abdeslam’s arrest that he wanted him returned to France as quickly as possible to face justice over the attacks.

He is believed to have acted as a logistics coordinator for the Paris massacre and has told investigators he was meant to carry out a suicide attack at the Stade de France stadium but backed out.

No flights yet

Brussels airport meanwhile, closed since its departure hall was wrecked in the attacks, said it had received the go-ahead from fire services and the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority “for a partial restart of passenger flights.”

“The airport is thus technically ready for a restart,” it said in a statement. “However, the authorities have yet to take a formal decision on the restart date. Until Friday evening, no passenger flights will take place at Brussels Airport.”

In this Friday, March 18, 2016 photo made available Monday, March 21, an unidentified man believed to be connected to key suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam is detained by police during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium. (AP Photo/Zouheir Ambar)
In this Friday, March 18, 2016 photo made available Monday, March 21, an unidentified man believed to be connected to key suspect in the November 2015 Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam is detained by police during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium. (AP Photo/Zouheir Ambar)

In a bid to end the travel chaos caused by the closure of an important European air hub, hundreds of staff staged drills this week to test temporary check-in facilities as well as enhanced security measures.

Under the temporary arrangements, the airport would be able to handle 800 departing passengers per hour — around 20 percent of normal capacity, it said.

Close links have emerged between the Paris and Brussels attackers, exposing a tangled web of cross-border extremist cells and triggering a series of raids and arrests in several European countries.

In the latest operation on Thursday, police and soldiers searched a wooded area in Marke near the town of Courtrai in western Belgium, with authorities saying the raid was linked to a thwarted plot to attack France.

The main suspect in that case, Reda Kriket, has been charged in France with membership of a terrorist organisation after police found an arsenal of weapons and explosives at his home.

The joint French-Belgian operation by masked police and armed soldiers along a busy motorway lasted for several hours but Belgian prosecutors said no weapons or explosives were found and no arrests were made.

CCTV appeal

Belgian-born French citizen Abdeslam, 26, has refused to answer questions since the day after his arrest. Before that, he was questioned for three hours solely about the Paris attacks — and not about possible further terror plots.

Abdeslam has connections to at least two of the Brussels bombers. Khalid El Bakraoui, who blew himself up at the metro, rented a flat in Brussels where Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found.

(Left to right) Khalid El Bakraoui, Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, who carried out the deadly suicide bombings in Brussels on March 22, 2016, in a photo distributed by Belgian authorities. (Belgian Federal Police)
(Left to right) Khalid El Bakraoui, Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, who carried out the deadly suicide bombings in Brussels on March 22, 2016, in a photo distributed by Belgian authorities. (Belgian Federal Police)

One of the two airport bombers, Najim Laachraoui, once drove to Hungary with Abdeslam.

Belgium is still searching for a suspected third attacker, the so-called “man in the hat” seen in surveillance images alongside the two airport bombers.

With no suspects in custody over the attacks, police on Thursday appealed for CCTV footage from members of the public.

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