http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-suspects-mohamedabrini-arrested-in-belgium-a6975071.

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Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini 'arrested in Belgium' amid links to
Brussels bombings
Leo Cendrowicz In Brussels, 9th April, 2016

Mohamed Abrini, the only suspect still at large from last years Paris attacks, was arrested on
Friday in Brussels, along with other associates alleged to have been involved with last
months Brussels bombings, Belgian authorities have confirmed.
Abrini, who has also been identified by local media as the man in the hat, was arrested in
Anderlecht, on the west side of Brussels, where four other suspects linked to the Paris
attacks were also caught.
Another man arrested in a series of raids, identified as Osama K. by Belgian authorities, was
linked to the 13 November Paris attacks by French authorities on March 22, hours after the
Belgium attacks.
Abrini and Osama K.are now suspected of playing a role in the two biggest attacks carried
out by the Islamic State group in Europe over the past year, killing 130 people in Paris and
32 in Brussels. French authorities renewed their call to arrest an armed and dangerous Abrini
within hours of the Brussels attacks.
"We are investigating if Abrini can be positively identified as the third person present during
the attacks in Brussels National Airport, the so called 'man in the hat,"' said prosecutor Eric
Van der Sypt.
Abrini, 31, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, who was seen in security footage a fortnight ago
just before the double bombing at Brussels Airport that killed 16 people, local media said.
He was seen on footage in a Renault Clio at a petrol station at Ressons, north of Paris two
days before the attacks, with would-be suicide bomber Salah Abdeslam, a boyhood friend.
While Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels three weeks ago, Abrini has remained elusive until
now. Abrini was on a European watchlist for almost five months, and is described on the
arrest warrant as dangerous and probably armed.
Although police lost track of him after the Ressons stop, his DNA was found in the flat on Rue
Max Roos in the Brussels district of Schaarbeek from where the airport bombers caught a
taxi on the morning of the attacks. The finding was the first clear link between the Paris and
Brussels attackers.

http://www.gulf-times.com/story/487859/Paris-attack-suspect-held-possibly-man-in-the-hat

Paris attack suspect held, possibly man in the hat

April 08 2016 11:31 PM

Mohamed Abrini, who was wanted for Novembers Islamic State (IS) attacks in Paris, has
been arrested in Brussels, Belgian public broadcasters said yesterday, adding that Abrini
was probably involved in last months Brussels bombings.
Abrini, a 31-year-old Belgian, was more than likely the man in the hat seen on security
camera footage at Brussels airport on March 22 with two suicide bombers, VRT and RTBF
said on their websites, citing unidentified sources.
Public prosecutors confirmed in a brief statement only that police had made several arrests
related to the Brussels attacks.
Congratulations and thank you to all those who enabled the arrest of two presumed
terrorists, the Belgian royal palace wrote on Twitter, without giving details.
If confirmed, the arrests would mark a success for Belgian security services, which have
faced fierce criticism at home and abroad since Brussels-based militants organised the
attacks that killed 130 in Paris on November 13.
The arrests came a day after police issued new images and detail on the man in the hat.
They follow the arrest in Brussels on March 18 of a key surviving suspect in the Paris attacks,
Salah Abdeslam. He was seen driving with Abrini towards Paris two days before the Paris
attacks.
Four days after Abdeslam was arrested, the brothers Brahim and Khalid El Bakraoui and a
third local man, Najim Laachraoui, set off bombs that killed 32 people at Brussels airport and
on a metro line running under European Union institutions.
VRT and RTBF said Abrini was probably the man disguised in heavy glasses and a floppy hat
who was pictured with Brahim Bakraoui and Laachraoui moments before the two men blew
themselves up at the airport.
A second suspect held yesterday was believed to be a man seen with Khalid Bakraoui at a
metro station shortly before Bakraoui blew himself up on a train on the same line downtown.
VRT named the second man as Osama Kraiem and said he was believed to be the same
person as Naim al-Hamed, who was seen on a wanted poster released by French police.

Broadcasters said he had also been caught on CCTV buying holdalls at a downtown mall that
were later used in the Brussels bombings.
Some media said he was a Swedish citizen in Belgium.
We refer all queries to the Belgian authorities, said Sirpa Franzen, a spokeswoman for
Swedish security police Sapo.
Abrini was arrested in the borough of Anderlecht, VRT said, next to the western district of
Molenbeek, which has been at the heart of Belgiums troubles with Islamist militants.
He had been on Europes most wanted list since being seen on a motorway service station
CCTV video driving with Abdeslam towards Paris from Belgium.
The car they drove was used two days later in the attacks, in which Abdeslams elder
brother was a suicide bomber.
The man in the hat left the airport shortly after the twin suicide bombings and was tracked
on CCTV for several miles into the city centre.
On Thursday, investigators released new video footage of him and urged people to look for
his discarded coat.
He had been difficult to identify from the footage, which showed him pushing a laden
luggage trolley alongside the two men who blew themselves up with similar bags.
A third bomb was later found abandoned at the airport.