French officials have confirmed that a key suspect in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris -- the person who has been called "the man in the hat" after being seen in a video at the Brussels airport moments before bombs went off there – has been arrested in Belgium.
Mohamed Abrini, the last suspect police were searching for in connection with the attacks in Paris and the man believed to be the coordinator of the attacks in Brussles, was picked up along with at least two others in a suburb of that city.
Belgian media sources say authorities there believe Abrini is likely the "man in the hat" seen on CCTV before the blasts in the Brussels airport on March 22.
Several arrests were reported Friday in connection with the attacks at the airport and a Brussels metro station that left 32 dead and hundreds wounded.
Who is Abrini? What did he do? Where did they catch him?
- Abrini, 31, is a Belgian national.
- He was a petty criminal and served short prison sentences mostly for robberies in Brussels.
- He is believed to be a member of the Islamic State terror organization.
- He is the final named suspect in the Paris attacks and has been on Europe's most wanted list for five months -- since he was caught on another CCTV video at a gas station outside of Paris just prior to the attacks there. He was seen there with Salah Abdeslam, another Paris attacks suspect.
- Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels four days before the attacks there in March.
- It is believed that Abrini is the man seen in the video at the Brussels airport with Brahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, suicide bombers who carried out the deadly attack. A third man, Khalid El Bakraoui, brother of Brahim, launched a suicide attack on a metro car in Brussels near several European Union institutions.
- Abrini was seen leaving the airport on foot shortly after the blasts. Later, officials were able to follow his movements back to Brussels via CCTV video.
- On Thursday, investigators released new video footage of him and asked the public for help in finding him or the discarded coat he had worn to the airport.
- Abrini, along with at least two others, was detained in Anderlecht, Belgium, near the western district of Molenbeek which has been home – and hiding place -- to many of Europe's Islamist militants.
Sources: The New York Times; The Associated Press; The BBC; The Guardian
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