Paris attacks suspect ‘co-operating’ with Belgian police
Salah Abdeslam's lawyer says his client is cooperating with Belgian police but is regusing extradition to France
Salah Abdeslam's Belgian lawyer Sven Mary says his client will oppose extradition to France
The lawyer of the Paris attacks suspect who was captured in a dramatic raid in Belgium on Friday said that his client is co-operating with Belgian police. Sven Mary added that Salah Abdeslam – a 26-year-old French national - has been formally charged but is refusing extradition to France.
Abdeslam was shot in the leg and arrested after four months on the run, after he allegedly played a role in the Paris attacks last November that left 130 people dead and several more injured. Investigators hope that Abdeslam will reveal more information about the Islamic State network supposedly behind the attacks, as well as its financing and plans.
Officials allege that he was in Paris on the night of the attacks but remain unclear on his exact role in the attacks. He is believed to have fled shortly afterwards, returning to the Molenbeek district of Brussels.
His brother, Brahim, was one of the suicide bombers in the attacks.
The European police agency, Europol, has urged "extra vigilance" at borders following Friday's Brussels raid, warning that more accomplices may try to flee Europe.
French President Francois Hollande described Abdeslam's arrest as "an important moment".
"The battle against terrorism does not end tonight, even though this is a victory," Hollande said during a joint press conference on Friday with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
"We must catch all those who allowed, organised or facilitated these attacks and we realise that they are a lot more numerous than we thought earlier and had identified.”
During the raid, Belgian police also arrested a man, Monir Ahmed Alaaj, was also on a wanted list, as well as three members of a family accused of harbouring Salah Abdeslam.
Prosecutors said that Alaaj had travelled to Germany with Abdeslam last October, where his fingerprints were taken during an identity check.
The raid came after Abdeslam’s fingerprints, a false Syrian passport in Alaaj’s name and Belgian identity documents under an alias, were found in a flat in another Brussels district, which was raided on Tuesday.
More details have also emerged about Mohamed Belkaid, an Algerian national who was shot dead in the Brussels raid.
Associated Press reported that it has been passed documents by the Syrian opposition news site, Zaman al-Wasl, suggesting Belkaid joined IS in 2014 and asked to be a suicide bomber.
Belgian investigators say he is likely to have been an associate of Salah Abdeslam.
