The fact that weapons of terrorist cells of Paris and Brussels may still be hidden in Belgium arose during a hearing of Mohamed Abrini. The latter is a suspect implicated in the attacks on the two capital cities on November 13th, 2015 and last March 22nd. The information was obtained by the editorial staff of the “Pano” (VRT) television programme.
Mohamed Abrini is associated with the preparation of the Paris attacks of close to a year ago and is also the man given the nickname of “Man in the Hat”, the third member of the commando which hit Brussels Airport in March. Unlike his associates, he did not explode himself during the attack, and fled before being arrested on April 8th at Anderlecht.
According to the editorial staff of Pano, the man is quite vocal with investigators, contrary to the attitude of Salah Abdeslam. In particular, he has mentioned the different hideouts employed by terrorists in Belgium.
Mohamed Abrini admitted that he and the others felt they were being hunted by police. The group therefore split up and left the Schaerbeek hideout of rue Henri Bergé, he explained. He states that the terrorists were informed from prison regarding police action. “We left the Jette hideout after the El Bakraoui brothers got a message from prison saying that it was necessary to take such action because it was getting dangerous at Jette,” he claimed.
However, the threat is still present. According to Mohamed Abrini, weapons of the terrorist network are still hidden in a garage somewhere in Belgium. “I can confirm that there were weapons in all of the flats (employed by the cells). The weapons were taken out of the flat one or two days before the Brussels attacks,” he stated. “Khalid El Bakraoui is the one who moved them. I know that he had available a garage where oxygenated water and other products are still hidden. But I do not know where this garage is and what is in it exactly. There were three or four Kalashnikovs, one pistol and C-4 explosives. He took everything in a bag; I do not know where to.”
In June, the judiciary searched 152 garages in Brussels, but according to the editorial staff of Pano, neither the weapons nor the explosives were found. When questioned during the broadcast, the director of the Entity for the Coordination of Analysing Threats (OCAM), Paul Van Tigchelt, recognized that “in fact it was a matter of weapons and explosives that we were unable to find after March 22nd.” And “it is true that the legal and police authorities are toiling to find them,” he also stated.
The Pano programme will be broadcast Wednesday night at 9:25 on Eén.
The Brussels Times
