AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 1253 Tanweer, cautioned for disorderly conduct. More examples can be found among attackers with peripheral connections to both networks profiled in this report. The Charlie Hebdo office attackers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were both involved in petty crime as part of a group of friends whose members 1254 were involved in theft and drug use. Profiles of individuals involved in both networks covered, as well as the biographies of more recent 1255 attackers such as the man who carried out the 14 July attack on Nice, also suggest involvement in petty crime has often been the only point of contact between individuals involved in terrorist attacks and the authorities. As such, it can be suggested identifying this history as a significant risk factor in an individual’s susceptibility to radicalisation, particularly if this involves a history of violent crime, may be crucial in helping provide policy-makers and practitioners with a better understanding of how to recognise those who may be at risk of recruitment and recognise behaviour which may be of concern. In addition to histories of petty crime prior to radicalisation, the profile also show that criminality was used as a means of funding violent Islamist activities by members of these networks. This provides further evidence individuals involved in the networks may come into contact with the authorities in relation to offences after their recruitment but prior to involvement in violence, providing further intervention opportunities. 3.9 Criminality in the Paris/Brussels Networks The extent of the criminal histories identified by the profiles can be seen most clearly in the highly connected network of petty criminals which went on to form the heart of the IS-affiliated Islamist terror network that would launch two mass-casualty attacks in France and Belgium. Khalid and Ibrahim el- Bakraoui, who detonated suicide bombs in the Brussels Metro and Zaventem airport respectively, were known to the police owing to their long-term involvement in violent crime. Khalid had a history of car- 1256 jackings and bank robbery, as well as kidnap, while his brother, Ibrahim, had a more substantial criminal 1257 record, opening fire on police officers during a violent robbery. Like the el-Bakraoui brothers, the Abdeslam brothers also had a history of criminality. Salah Abdeslam and his brother Brahim had 1258 1259 managed a bar which was shut down in 2015 in connection with drug-related activity, and Salah was 1260 detained and fined in 2015 after being caught in possession of cannabis. In addition to their involvement 1261 with drugs, Salah was jailed for burglary in 2010, while Brahim had been jailed for theft on at least two 1262 occasions. This criminal activity has also been connected to other individuals who would go on to form the backbone of the networks behind the Brussels and Paris attacks. Salah Abdeslam was jailed along with childhood 1263 friend and ring-leader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, for a 2010 burglary when the two 1264 broke into a garage in Ottignies, near Brussels. Abdelhamid Abaaoud has been described as a “repeat ! ! 1253 ‘Profile: Hasib Mir Hussain’, BBC News, 11 May 2006, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4762263.stm; and ‘Profile: Shehzad Tanweer’, BBC News, 6 July 2006, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4762313.stm. Both last visited: 9 August 2016. 1254 ‘Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris’, Guardian, 12 January 2015, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/-sp- charlie-hebdo-attackers-kids-france-radicalised-paris, last visited: 9 August 2016. 1255 ‘Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel: who was the Bastille Day truck attacker?’, Guardian, 15 July 2016, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/15/bastille-day-truck-driver-was-known-to-police-reports-say, last visited: 9 August 2016. 1256 ‘Ibrahim and Khalid el-Bakraoui: From Bank Robbers to Brussels Bombers’, International New York Times, 24 March 2016. 1257 ibid. 1258 Kirby, P., ‘Paris attacks: Salah Abdeslam's luck runs out’, BBC News, 19 March 2016. 1259 Faiola, A. and Souad Mekhennet, ‘The Islamic State creates a new type of jihadist: Part terrorist, part gangster’, The Washington Post, 20 December 2015. 1260 Kirby, P., ‘Paris attacks: Salah Abdeslam's luck runs out’, BBC News, 19 March 2016. 1261 ‘Paris attacks: Salah Abdeslam’s luck runs out’, BBC News, 19 March 2016. 1262 ‘Is Europe still at threat from Paris-Brussels terror 'supercell'?’, France 24, 11 April 2016. 1263 ibid. 1264 Van Vlierden, G., ‘Profile: Paris Attack Ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud’, Combating Terrorism Center, 15 December 2015. ! ! 98 !