Brussels Attack Terrorists Wiretapped: Abdeslam and Abrini’s Prison Conversations Reveal Ongoing Threat

Considered very dangerous in 2016, Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini were held in the high-security wing of Bruges prison. All their conversations in French, Arabic, Riffian and sometimes in code were recorded by the police who had them wiretapped. These audio recordings of their conversations have been transcribed in an 81-page document, reports Dernière Heure.

These exchanges show that, even in prison, these terrorists were still very dangerous. They also reveal the personality of each of them. Salah Abdeslam appears to be very vain and sensitive to what the population of Molenbeek thinks of him. He was also disconcertingly naive, convinced at the time that he would serve a short sentence and did not want to serve it in Morocco. He also mentions, in a conversation with Bakkali, the loss of a will he had written, fearing that the investigators would find it and understand that he wanted to commit suicide in an attack.

As for Mohamed Abrini, he suspects one of his cousins of having told everything to the police. He also confides to Nemmouche that his sister told him that "many people came to deposit money at home for me". The Abdeslam family would also have received "individual and not organized collection" donations, specifies the Sûreté.