Saïd Saouti (aged 30) and Mohamed Karay (aged 27) two members of the motorbike club Kamikaze Riders, suspected of having planned an attack in Brussels, have had their custody extended by at least a month, by the Brussels Chambre de Conseil (the court in chambers), the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has stated. The two men deny the accusations against them and that they belong to a terrorist group.
Mohamed Karay and Saïd Saouti had been arrested for questioning at their home in Anderlecht. Both men belong to the motorcycle club, Kamikaze Riders, of which several members have links with the minor Islamist group Sharia4Belgium.
Abdelouafi Elouassaki, the eldest of four brothers of a family of fighters in Syria, who was native to Vilvorde, was also a member of Kamikaze Riders. He died in May 2013, during a road traffic accident. Saïd Saouti, the founder of Kamikaze Riders, is suspected of also knowing the Elouassaki brothers.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office states that there were strong indications of an attempted terrorist attack by Saïd Saouti and Mohamed Karay, timed to occur with the Paris attacks. Their targets were the Grand-Place de Bruxelles, Brussels Central Police Station located close by, as well as the police and military within Brussels and its suburbs.
(Source: Belga)
