AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW also convicted in absentia in July 2015 for “participating in a terrorist organisation” in connection with his 1172 relation to the network, receiving a five year prison sentence. Like Abaaoud, Akrouh was to return from Syria to carry out the Paris attacks and was killed alongside Abaaoud during a police raid on 18 November 1173 2015. Salah Abdeslam, arrested in March 2016 after having played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks,1174 1175 was eventually discovered alongside a man called Abid Aberkan at Aberkan’s mother’s address. Aberkan is Fatima Aberkan’s nephew, and as such it is possible Abdeslam had some connection to the 1176 wider Zerkani network of which Fatima Aberkan was such an important part. Just days after Abdeslam’s arrest, his associate Najim Laachraoui, who had been stopped in September 2015 at the Hungary-Austria border in a car driven by Abdeslam,1177 carried out a suicide attack on Zaventem airport in Brussels. He had been due to go on trial in absentia in May 2016 in connection with his relationship with the Zerkani 1178 network and has been described as an associate of the radical preacher. Meanwhile, Reda Kriket, 1179 another man convicted in absentia in July 2015 as part of the Zerkani network is the main suspect in a foiled Paris attack, charged with possessing and transporting arms and explosives and holding fake 1180 documents. In yet another connection between the old and new networks, Abderrahmane Ameroud was also shot in the leg and arrested in Schaerbeek in March 2016 in relation to his suspected involvement 1181 in Kriket’s foiled plot. 3.04 The Buttes-Chaumont Connection Away from the attacks on Paris and Brussels, the profiles also highlight direct connections between recent mass-casualty attacks and those involved in the al-Qaeda-linked networks of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Cherif Kouachi, one of the gunmen who targeted the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in January 2015 is believed to have been radicalised by the notorious al-Qaeda recruiter, Djamel Beghal, whilst in 1182 prison from January 2005 to October 2006. Kouachi visited Beghal, profiled as one of the key nodes 1183 1184 in the old network, while Beghal was under house arrest, playing football and trekking with him. Kouachi was later arrested alongside Beghal due to his alleged involvement in a plot to free a convicted 1185 Islamist militant from prison, but released. In addition, the Hypercache supermarket shooter, Ahmedy 1186 1187 Coulibaly, met Beghal in prison between January and August 2005 and visited him after his release. Coulibaly was later convicted alongside Beghal of involvement in the prison break plot which Kouachi 1188 had been dropped from. ! ! 1172 Matthias Verbergt, ‘Paris-Attack Suspect Traveled to Syria in 2013’, The Wall Street Journal, 15 January 2016. 1173 Bacchi, U., ‘Paris attacks: Chakib Akrouh was Saint-Denis mystery suicide bomber who died alongside Abdelhamid Abaaoud’. 1174 Payne, E., ‘Salah Abdeslam claims a minor role in Paris terror attacks’, CNN, 26 March 2016. 1175 ‘Brussels attacks: Have blunders hampered Belgian investigation?’ BBC News, 15 April 2016. 1176 ‘Abid Aberkan reste en détention préventive’, 7 Sur 7, 25 March 2016. 1177 Blaise, L. and Aurelien Breeden, ‘Najim Laachraoui, 24, Bomb Maker for Paris and Brussels Attacks’, International New York Times, 25 March 2016. 1178 Blaise, L. and Aurelien Breeden, ‘Najim Laachraoui, 24, Bomb Maker for Paris and Brussels Attacks’, International New York Times, 25 March 2016; ‘Belgian court sentences jihadist recruiter to 15 years in prison’, France 24, 14 April 2016. 1179 ‘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. 1180 Mortimer, C., ‘Reda Kriket: Main suspect charged in connection with foiled Paris attack plot’, Independent, 30 March 2016. 1181 ‘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. 1182 Rayner, G. and David Barrett, ‘Charlie Hebdo suspect 'mentored' by Abu Hamza disciple’, The Telegraph, 8 January 2015. 1183 Halliday, J. et al., ‘Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based’, Guardian, 11 January 2015. 1184 Gauthier-Villars, D. and Stacy Meichtry, ‘Algerian Terror Convict Links Paris Gunmen’, The Wall Street Journal, 13 January 2015. 1185 ‘French attacks inquiry centers on prison 'sorcerer' Beghal’, Reuters, 15 January 2015. 1186 ibid. 1187 Halliday, J. et al., ‘Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based’, Guardian, 11 January 2015. 1188 ‘French attacks inquiry centers on prison 'sorcerer' Beghal’, Reuters, 15 January 2015. ! ! 93 !