AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Criminal history: Abrini has a long history of petty crime, including theft and drug possession and had 94 been jailed on this account on previous occasions. Known to the authorities: Reports suggest Abrini may have been monitored by Belgian police in July 2015 over concerns related to Syria. Before his arrest after the Brussels attacks, Abrini, who had been a suspect 95 since the Paris attacks in November 2015, had been described as one of Europe’s “most wanted” men. Networks and associates: -! Brussels attacks (March 2016): Najim Laachraoui [see above]; Khalid el-Bakraoui, Ibrahim el- Bakraoui, Osama Krayem [fellow attackers; DNA found in the apartment used by the Brussels 96 attackers]. Paris attacks (November 2015): -! Brahim Abdeslam, Salah Abdeslam [Believed to have rented an 97 apartment with Salah Abdeslam in Paris which was used by the attackers; Caught on CCTV with 98 Salah Abdeslam on 11 November 2015; Abrini was also a regular at a bar run by Salah and 99 Brahim Abdeslam until it was shut down for its connections to drug dealing]; Other unspecified 100 attackers [Abrini’s DNA and fingerprints were found in a car used by the Paris attackers]. 101 OSAMA KRAYEM aka Naim al Ahmed/Al-Hamed Role : Charged in relation to the Brussels attack on the Metro;had planned to detonate a suicide bomb 102 103 but backed out. Believed to have bought the bags used to hide the bombs, Krayem carried a bag of 104 105 explosives to the metro station. He also stands accused of plotting another attack on Paris. Bio 106 : 23-year-old Swedish citizen and member of IS. Krayem grew up in the Seved neighbourhood of Malmo, Sweden. Sources claim he is the “son of Syrian exiles” from Rosengard, Malmo, which has a 107 “reputation for crime and ethnic segregation”. A friend of Krayem described the latter “living it up” in 108 the Seved neighbourhood. It is believed he was radicalised in 2015 and that before leaving for Syria 109 early that year he tried to recruit others from his mosque. He accompanied Khalid el-Bakraoui to ! ! 94 ‘Brussels suspect: Check-in area for Tel Aviv flight was targeted’, The Times of Israel, 14 April 2016. 95 ‘Paris terror suspect Mohamed Abrini arrested in Belgium’, CNN, 9 April 2016, available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/08/europe/brussels-attack-arrests/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 96 ‘Mohammed Abrini: ‘Man in the hat’ planned terror attacks in UK’, Express, 10 April 2016. 97 ‘Brussels suspect: Check-in area for Tel Aviv flight was targeted’, The Times of Israel, 14 April 2016. 98 ‘Factbox: The hunt for the Paris attackers’, Reuters, 24 December 2015. 99 Bartunek, R. and Alastair Macdonald, ‘Belgians seize key suspects in Paris, Brussels attacks’, Reuters, 9 April 2016, available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us- france-shooting-abrini-arrest-idUSKCN0X51QK, last visited: 9 August 2016. 100‘Mohammed Abrini: ‘Man in the hat’ planned terror attacks in UK’, Express, 10 April 2016. 101 ‘How are the Brussels attackers linked to Paris?’ France 24, 21 April 2016. 102 ‘Krayem involved in Paris attacks’, New Europe, 20 April 2016, available at: https://neurope.eu/article/krayem-involved-paris-attacks/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 103 ‘How are the Brussels attackers linked to Paris?’, France 24, 21 April 2016, 104 Kroet, C, ‘Osama Krayem ‘carried explosives in Brussels metro’ – report’, Politico, 15 April 2016, available at: http://www.politico.eu/article/osama-krayem- carried-explosives-in-brussels-metro-report/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 105 Watkinson, W., ‘Brussels attack: Who is Osama Krayem the jihadi from Malmo arrested with 'Man in the Hat'?’, International Business Times, 10 April 2016, available at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brussels-attack-who-osama-krayem-jihadi-malmo-arrested-man-hat-1554105, last visited: 9 August 2016. 106 ‘How are the Brussels attackers linked to Paris?’, France 24, 21 April 2016; and Dearden, L., ‘Osama Krayem: Swedish jihadist linked to Brussels bombings charged with 'terrorist murder' over Paris attacks’, Independent, 20 April 2016, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/osama-krayem- swedish-jihadist-linked-to-brussels-bombings-charged-with-terrorist-murder-in-paris-a6993236.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 107 ‘Krayem involved in Paris attacks’, New Europe, 20 April 2016; Watkinson, W., ‘Brussels attack: Who is Osama Krayem the jihadi from Malmo arrested with ‘Man in the Hat’?’, International Business Times, 10 April 2016; ‘Osama Krayem, a Swedish radical linked to Brussels attacks’, Daily Mail Online, 9 April 2016, available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3531796/Osama-Krayem-Swedish-radical-linked-Brussels-attacks.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 108 ‘Osama Krayem, a Swedish radical linked to Brussels attacks’, Daily Mail Online, 9 April 2016. 109 Watkinson, W., ‘Brussels attack: Who is Osama Krayem the jihadi from Malmo arrested with 'Man in the Hat'?’, International Business Times, 10 April 2016. ! ! 14 !
![An Enduring Threat: Europe’s Islamist Terror Networks Then and Now - Page 17](/cdn-cgi/image/width=600,quality=80,format=webp/https://cdn.relayto.com/images_originals/57c569e901541.jpeg)