Terrorist suspect Salah Abdeslam arrested in Molenbeek

Salah Abdeslam, the only terrorist suspect connected to last November’s Paris attacks who was still at large, was arrested on Friday at a house in Molenbeek. Abdeslam (pictured) has been Belgium’s – and Europe’s – most-wanted man for 18 weeks. He is now in custody in Bruges prison, and the French authorities have asked for his extradition.
 
Abdeslam, 26, was arrested during a heavily-armed police operation that started at about 16.30 on Friday. Police, ambulances and fire service were all in attendance on the Rue des Quatre Vents, and at one point shots were heard. VTM News was also present, and live images on TV attracted large numbers of people to the perimeter of the area.

The operation had been planned for Saturday but was moved up after the media leaked information about the discovery of Abdeslam’s fingerprint in a flat in Rue de Dries in the Forest municipality, where police had exchanged gunfire with suspects on Tuesday, killing one. That raised the possibility that Abdeslam was one of the two suspects who had reportedly escaped from the scene.

Abdeslam is accused of taking part in the terrorist attacks on 13 November in Paris in which 130 people were killed at a football stadium, a concert hall and on cafe terraces. His brother, Ibrahim, died in a suicide bombing and was buried in Brussels last week. Abdeslam has been at large since, with reports he might be in Germany, the Netherlands or even Syria. It is now believed he has been in Brussels since the attacks.

Abdeslam was arrested together with four other suspects. Police have confirmed that he and another man, who goes by the alias Amine Choukri, had been wounded by a gunshot to the leg. Both men were taken under heavy security to Sint-Pieter Hospital in Brussels for treatment, and later discharged into police custody. Three other people were arrested at the scene on suspicion of having harboured Abdeslam.

Call from Obama

Prime minister Charles Michel left the EU summit taking place in Brussels, without giving the usual post-summit press conference, to be appraised of the situation. French president François Hollande, who was in town for the summit, later joined him at Rue de la Loi 16.

Meanwhile in Molenbeek, the police action was over, with forensic investigators remaining to carry out a thorough search of the building. Local residents who were unable to get to their homes within the security perimeter were given temporary shelter by the municipality. Police and media were jeered at by gatherings of local youths, who threw stones.

Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever praised his party colleague Jan Jambon, minister for home affairs. “Jan Jambon promised to clean up Molenbeek,” he tweeted. “He kept his word.” Migration minister Theo Francken tweeted “We have him”. US president Barack Obama called Michel during the evening to congratulate him on the successful arrest of Abdeslam.

Jambon warned that the arrest of the most wanted man in Europe would not necessarily change the security level in Belgium. “Catching one, two or three suspects does not necessarily have a direct effect on the threat level,” he said at a press conference.

“We are facing a new kind of threat in Europe,” said Michel. “We need to remain alert. The fight against terrorism and for freedom does not end tonight.”