Page 12 - ATODAY

LOCAL A13
Monday 21 March 2016

Paris attacks suspect reported to be planning new acts

LORNE COOK In this framegrab taken from VTM, something appears to drop from inside the trouser leg of Salah Abdeslam, centre, as he is
Associated Press arrested by police and bundled into a police vehicle during a raid in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium, Friday
BRUSSELS (AP) — The top March 18, 2016.
suspect in last year’s Paris
attacks told investigators Associated Press
after he was captured that
he was planning new op- at a German Marshall Fund ecutor, accusing him of tance to this investigation. result before then,” Geens
erations from Brussels and conference in Brussels, the breaching the confiden- I would even say that he is said on RTL television.
possibly had access to sev- foreign minister said “we tiality of the investigation worth gold. He is cooperat- The next official step in
eral weapons, Belgium’s have found more than 30 into the deadly rampage ing, he is communicating, the legal process comes
foreign minister said Sun- people involved in the ter- in Paris. he is not insisting on his right Wednesday when Ab-
day. rorist attacks in Paris, but Sven Mary told Belgian to silence. I think it would deslam faces court in Brus-
Salah Abdeslam had we are sure that there are public broadcaster RTBF be worthwhile now to give sels. The suspect, who could
claimed that “he was others.” Reynders urged that part of the press con- things a bit of time ... for be one of the rare jihadis
ready to restart something European intelligence, law ference given on Saturday investigators to be able to to face trial and possibly
from Brussels, and it’s may- enforcement, and border by Paris prosecutor Fran- talk to him,” Mary said. speak during proceedings,
be the reality,” Foreign Min- authorities to exchange cois Molins “is a violation. In response, an official in awoke Sunday after his first
ister Didier Reynders said. more information to help It’s a fault, and I cannot let the Paris prosecutor’s office night in a prison just outside
Reynders gave credence track the suspects down. it go unchallenged.” said French law allows pros- the city of Bruges, western
to the suspect’s claim be- Interpol also has called on Molins said Abdeslam, 26, ecutors to speak about el- Belgium.
cause “we found a lot of European countries to be told Belgian officials he had ements of an investigation. The prison has a special
weapons, heavy weapons vigilant at their borders, “wanted to blow himself up The official spoke on condi- section for high-profile pris-
in the first investigations, saying Abdeslam’s accom- at the Stade de France” as tion of anonymity because oners, with specially trained
and we have seen a new plices may try to flee after a suicide bomber, but that they were not allowed to guards. Cells have double
network of people around his capture. The interna- he backed out at the last discuss this issue publicly. doors and any furniture or
him in Brussels.” tional police agency rec- minute. Belgian Justice Minister equipment is attached to
Abdeslam, captured Fri- ommended closer checks France is seeking Ab- Koen Geens was cau- the floor.
day in a police raid in Brus- at borders, especially for deslam’s extradition for tri- tious about how the legal Abdeslam was shot in the
sels, was charged Saturday stolen passports. Many of al there, but Mary said he proceedings will unfold leg Friday along with a sus-
with “terrorist murder” by the Nov. 13 attackers and would fight any attempt against the suspect, but pected accomplice when
Belgian authorities. He is a accomplices traveled on to hand over his client and said the kind of extradi- they were captured dur-
top suspect in the Nov. 13 falsified or stolen docu- that investigators have tion procedure being used ing an anti-terror raid in
attacks in Paris that left 130 ments much to learn from the sus- would limit the possibilities Brussels. He was found at
people dead. Abdeslam’s Belgian lawyer, pect, who was born in Bel- for Abdeslam to appeal. an apartment a mere 500
Abdeslam was wounded meanwhile, threatened to gium but has French and “It could take two months, meters (yards) from his par-
during the raid, and a se- launch legal action Mon- Moroccan nationality. two and a half months, and ents’ home, where he grew
nior Belgian police official day against a French pros- “Salah is of great impor- we will not be certain of the up.q
said that he was shot in the
leg as he ran toward offi-
cers outside an apartment
in the Molenbeek neigh-
borhood.
The head of Belgium’s spe-
cial federal police unit, Ro-
land Pacolet, told broad-
caster RTL that one hypoth-
esis being studied by police
was that the suspect want-
ed to commit suicide.
“When someone comes
out running toward the
police, we have to ask
ourselves some questions.
What did he have in mind?
What was he going to do?
Either he wanted to get
killed by the police, or he
wanted to blow himself up
near the police,” Pacolet
said.
He said that Abdeslam was
unarmed.
Speaking to security experts