AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 1.2 Brussels: Accomplices MOHAMED ABRINI Role: 78 79 Failed suicide bomber; logistics; Abrini is also believed to have driven with Abdeslam to Paris 80 before the Paris attacks. Bio : 30 years old, of Moroccan origin, Abrini lived in the same area as the Abdeslam brothers and 81 Abdelhamid Abaaoud and was a close childhood friend of Salah Abdeslam. Before Abrini became 82 involved with extremists, he is believed to have begun training as a welder aged 18 before giving it up and 83 is believed to have worked in a bakery. His younger brother was killed in Syria in 2014 and Abrini is believed to have travelled to Syria in April 2015 after flying to Istanbul following his release from prison 84 after being convicted for a number of robberies. He is then believed to have travelled to the UK, meeting 85 with Islamists in Birmingham, London, and Manchester in July 2015. He was caught on CCTV with Salah Abdeslam on 11 November 2015, two days before the Paris attacks, at a petrol station in Ressons, 86 87 88 north of Paris. Arrested on 8 April 2016, in the Anderlecht neighbourhood of Brussels. Abrini evaded capture for five months following the Paris attacks before heading to Brussels Zaventem airport with Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui. He abandoned his plans to carry out a suicide attack and 89 fled into Brussels, and was arrested in Anderlecht on 8 April. On 9 June, a Belgian judge approved his 90 extradition to France. Foreign training/combat : Believed to have fought in Syria and undergone training before returning to 91 Belgium. Movements: 92 Turkey/Syria (April 2015); Paris (November 2015); Birmingham/London/Manchester 93 (June 2015) ! ! 78 ‘Isis Brussels attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini botched suicide bombing as he ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’, IBT, 14 April 2016, available at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis- brussels-attacks-suspect-mohamed-abrini-botched-suicide-bombing-he-wouldnt-hurt-fly-1554814, last visited: 9 August 2016. 79 ‘Brussels suspect: Check-in area for Tel Aviv flight was targeted’, Times of Israel, 14 April 2016, available at: http://www.timesofisrael.com/brussels-suspect-check- in-area-for-tel-aviv-flight-was-targeted/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 80 ‘Mohammed Abrini: ‘Man in the hat’ planned terror attacks in UK’, Express, 10 April 2016, available at: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/659781/Mohammed- Abrini-arrested-Belgium-Brussels-bombing-man-in-the-hat-planned-UK-attack, last visited: 9 August 2016. 81 ‘Factbox: The hunt for the Paris attackers’, Reuters, 24 December 2015, available at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-france-shooting-identities-factbox- idUKKBN0U70SA20151224, last visited: 9 August 2016. 82 ‘Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam ‘had planned to target Brussels’, Guardian, 20 March 2016, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/20/paris-attacks-manhunt-two-suspects-still-at-large, last visited: 9 August 2016. 83 ‘Is Europe still at threat from Paris-Brussels terror ‘supercell’?’, France 24, 11 April 2016, available at: http://www.france24.com/en/20160411-europe-still-threat- paris-brussels-terror-supercell, last visited: 9 August 2016. 84 Kroet, C., ‘Police monitored Brussels terror suspect’s home months before bombings: media report’, Politico, 2 June 2016, available at: http://www.politico.eu/article/police-monitored-brussels-terror-suspect-mohamed-abrini-home-months-before-brussels-attacks-bombings-media-report/ 85 ‘Mohammed Abrini: ‘Man in the hat’ planned terror attacks in UK’, Express, 10 April 2016. 86 ‘Factbox: The hunt for the Paris attackers’, Reuters, 24 December 2015. 87 ‘Paris attacks: Key suspect Abrini arrested in Brussels’, BBC News, 9 April 2016, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36000407, last visited: 9 August 2016. 88 ‘Brussels suspect: Check-in area for Tel Aviv flight was targeted’, The Times of Israel, 14 April 2016. 89 ‘Isis Brussels attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini botched suicide bombing as he ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’, IBT, 14 April 2016 90 ‘Paris attacks: Belgian judge approves extradition of terror suspects Mohamed Abrini and Mohamed Bakkali to France’, The Independent, 9 June 2016, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-mohamed-abrini-mohamed-bakkali-judge-approves-extradition-terror-charges-a7073491.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 91 Newton, J. et al., ‘Terror suspect seen driving with Salah Abdeslam two days before Paris massacre had previously visited Syria, Belgian authorities reveal’, Daily Mail Online, 26 November 2015, available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3334828/Terror-suspect-seen-driving-Salah-Abdeslam-two-days-Paris-massacre-previously-visited-Syria-Belgian-authorities- reveal.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 92 ‘Mohammed Abrini: ‘Man in the hat’ planned terror attacks in UK’, Express, 10 April 2016. 93 Wellman, A. and Jeanette Oldham, ‘Revealed: UK city which 'Paris and Brussels attacker staked out before massacres', Mirror, 26 March 2016, available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/revealed-uk-city-paris-brussels-7633263?ICID=FB_mirror_main, last visited: 9 August 2016. ! ! 13 !