Belgian Investigator Reveals Paris Attacker Brahim Abdeslam’s Pre-2015 Travels to Syria

Three Belgian investigators at the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks testified on Friday at the federal prosecutor’s office. The one with the badge number 440.232.779 returned in his testimony by videoconference to Brahim Abdeslam’s background before the 2015 attacks, reports LCI.

To read: article 62998

The police officer notably returned to Brahim’s many trips to Morocco and his stay in Syria, via Turkey. "On February 9, 2015, our services will hear about Brahim Abdeslam who would have left for Syria. On January 28, 2015, he would have contacted his brother Salah Abdeslam from the Turkish-Syrian border telling him that he was going to cross this border," said the police officer.

Brahim Abdeslam will only be arrested on February 16, 2015 for "driving" offenses. Questioned by the local police, "Brahim Abdeslam said he was the manager of the Béguines café in Molenbeek where he said he served alcohol. He admitted to consuming cannabis," the investigator recounts. During the investigation, a phone and a document entitled: "The permission of the parents to do jihad" were seized.

To read: article 87391

"It is a document that clearly shows that I am against jihad and against young people leaving without parental permission," Brahim Abdeslam told the local police who released him. "He mocks the Brussels police, yes," admits investigator 440.232.779. "We had this man in our hands. We had everything on a silver platter, but we didn’t know how to use it. It’s chilling in retrospect," laments Negar Haeri, lawyer for the accused Mohammed Amri.