2023-10-24 16:45:00
A few hours after the neutralization of the assailant, on October 17, the federal prosecutor, Frédéric Van Leeuw, explained that Abdesalem Lassoued had probably acted alone. “The lone wolf thesis seems closest to reality,” said the federal prosecutor. There is, at this stage, “no indication of a network”, added Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD), now ex-Minister of Justice.
But during the investigations carried out since then, several individuals have been questioned, searched and even arrested. Enough to undermine the lone wolf thesis? “What we said more precisely is that at the current stage, it seems that the individual acted alone, defends the federal prosecutor’s office, contacted this Tuesday. But the investigation is not over. We open some doors, and we close others.”
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And to specify that information linked to the author of the attack was transmitted to several countries, in particular Germany and France. “It is the authorities of these countries who are acting, and we are waiting to see whether the individuals arrested will be transmitted to the Belgian authorities, or not. The investigations are continuing, and we therefore cannot say more,” concludes the federal prosecutor’s office.
It is in France that these investigations seem to have gone furthest for the moment. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) announced on Monday evening that two people domiciled in the Paris region and “likely to be linked to the perpetrator of the attack” had been presented to an investigating judge. On Tuesday, the two individuals were indicted for criminal terrorist association and for complicity in murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, then placed in pre-trial detention. According to information from the French press, Lassoued contacted one of these people to ask where the hotel where the Swedish football team was staying was located.
Tuesday afternoon, a meeting was held between the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office and the Pnat regarding the ongoing investigation. At this stage, it is not envisaged that Belgium will request the extradition of the two French suspects, indicated the federal prosecutor’s office.
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Arrests in France
Already last week, four people “likely to be linked to the author of the attack” were arrested in Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire and the Paris region, added the Pnat. Of the four people arrested, two were released. No firearms were found, but computer equipment was seized.
Analysis of Lassoued’s phone also revealed that the attacker had sent his video claim to 26 of his contacts. Among them, a person from Dresden, Germany. The latter, however, did not have “extremist opinions” and no compromising element was discovered in his home. The man was released and is not considered an accomplice. In Germany, Lassoued also allegedly had contact with people from Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
According to a terrorism expert contacted by La Libre (and who wished to remain anonymous), all these elements demonstrate that “the lone wolf thesis was too quickly drawn out by the authorities”.
Operational sleeper cells
”I don’t know Lassoued’s psychological profile, and it is more prudent to wait for what the investigation will say. But in reality, there were not many lone wolves involved in the terrorist acts which hit Europe or Belgium, it is explained. Often, those who were considered as such were, ultimately, linked to one or another criminal network, not necessarily a terrorist network anyway.
So come back, in the background, the significant presence of drug traffickers on Belgian territory, also the first suppliers of firearms for other criminals, as explained by the firearms specialists, Nils Duquet and Yannick Quéau, interviewed by La Libre a few days ago.
According to our terrorism expert, we should also not neglect the weight of the Islamic State organization in the attack committed on October 16 in Brussels. “Abdesalem Lassoued claimed to be a soldier of the Islamic State (IS) and this organization recognized the attack. Whether proven or a recovery, it is, in any case, a mistake to believe that ISIS is dead. Because, like the phoenix, the group can be reborn from its ashes. Furthermore, if ISIS is no longer capable of carrying out attacks like those in Paris, there are still operational sleeper cells almost everywhere.”
And to conclude: “One of the first pieces of information gathered after these attacks was that there was an impressive number of sleeper cells. And despite the work carried out, they have unfortunately not all been eradicated”.
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