AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 448 Billancourt, near Paris, on 24 March 2016. When police raided his apartment in Argenteuil, Paris, they discovered TATP explosive, five assault rifles and seven handguns.449 Foreign training/combat: Kriket travelled to Syria in 2014 and 2015, though it is unclear if he saw combat. Movements: Kriket “made several trips” to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and spent time in Syria 450 in 2014 and 2015. Criminal history: Kriket had “multiple convictions for robbery, possession of stolen goods and acts of violence.’ He was also convicted in absentia in July 2015 for his role in financing Khalid Zerkani’s 451 recruitment network. Known to the authorities: Known to be involved in jihadist activity following his conviction in July 2015, an international arrest warrant had already been issued for Kriket in March 2015, several months before 452 his conviction. Regarded as “extremely dangerous”, Kriket was placed on a “Most Wanted police list” 453 in January 2016. Networks and associates: -! Paris attacks (November 2015): Abdelhamid Abaaoud [Both men convicted in absentia for their 454 role in the Zerkani network]; Chakib Akrouh [Both men were part of the Zerkani network and 455 travelled to Istanbul together in January 2013]. Zerkani network: -! Khalid Zerkani [Kriket was convicted for his role in funding Zerkani’s 456 457 network]; Abderrahmane Ameroud [Charged with involvement with Kriket’s plot and 458 described as “linked” to the Zerkani network, though the nature of the link is unclear]; See . Khalid Zerkani profile for full list of other network associates Kriket may have associated with Foiled Paris plot -! : Rabah Meniker [34-year-old Algerian charged with helping Kriket in the foiled 459 Paris plot]; Yassine Alami [33-year-old Belgian citizen charged in connection to the foiled Paris 460 461 plot]; Anis Bahri [32-year-old arrested in Rotterdam in connection with the foiled Paris plot. 462 It is believed Bahri and Kriket travelled to together Syria in late 2014 to early 2015]. ! ! 448 ‘Man accused of plotting French terror tied to 2015 Paris attacks ringleader’, CNN, 25 March 2016, available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/24/europe/france-anti-terror-operation-arrest/index.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 449 ‘French attack plot: Reda Kriket 'had weapons cache'’, BBC News, 31 March 2016. 450 ibid. 451 Breeden, A., ‘Investigators Pursue Leads on Frenchman Accused of Terror Plot’, The New York Times, 31 March 2016, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/world/europe/investigators-pursue-leads-on-frenchman-accused-of-terror-plot.html?_r=0, last visited: 9 August 2016. 452 Dalton, M., ‘Investigators Home In on Scope of Terror Network Behind Brussels, Paris Attacks’, The Wall Street Journal, 4 April 2016. 453 Allen, P., ‘Convicted ISIS recruiter who 'planned imminent terrorist attack in France' is among seven arrested as police use grenades in raids in Belgium and Paris’, Daily Mail Online, 24 March 2016, available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3508608/At-one-person-arrested-masked-anti-terror-police-launch- raids-Paris-suburb-Argenteuil-following-Brussels-suicide-attacks.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 454 ‘Thwarted Paris plot linked to deadly Brussels ISIS cell’, CBS News, 25 March 2016. 455 Alonso, P., ‘Qui est Gelel Attar, le suspect des attentats de Paris arrêté au Maroc?’, Liberation, 19 January 2016, available at: http://www.liberation.fr/france/2016/01/19/qui-est-gelel-attar-le-suspect-des-attentats-de-paris-arrete-au-maroc_1427332, last visited: 9 August 2016. 456 ‘Khalid Zerkani, Brussels’ jihadist preacher who ‘perverted a generation’’, France 24, 26 March 2016. 457Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016. 458 ibid.; ‘France charges main suspect in foiled attack plot’, The Times of Israel, 31 March 2016; and ‘Thwarted Paris plot linked to deadly Brussels ISIS cell’, CBS News, 25 March 2016; Mortimer, C, ‘Reda Kriket: Main suspect charged in connection with foiled Paris attack plot’, Independent, 30 March 2016. 459 Breeden, A. and Sewell Chan, ‘Third Man Is Charged in Belgium Over Foiled Plot in France’, The New York Times, 2 April 2016, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/world/europe/belgium-terrorist-plot-france.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 460 ibid. 461 See ‘Cellule d'Argenteuil: la conversation téléphonique qui lie le Bruxellois Rabah Meniker à Reda Kriket’, La Capitale, 3 June 2016, available at: http://www.lacapitale.be/1588454/article/2016-06-03/cellule-d-argenteuil-la-conversation-telephonique-qui-lie-le-bruxellois-rabah-me, last visited: 9 August 2016, for full names. 462 Breeden, A., ‘Investigators Pursue Leads on Frenchman Accused of Terror Plot’, The New York Times, 31 March 2016. ! ! 39 !
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