The Grand Jury in Brussels confirmed on Wednesday that the three suspects arrested during the investigation into a possible terrorist cell in Verviers will remain in custody. They will do so for at least a month. The Prosecutor’s Office also confirmed through a press release that the two suspects shot by police have been identified. They are a 26 year old man with double Moroccan and Belgian nationality, and a 23 year old Belgian national. The three men who appeared before the Grand Jury on Wednesday, Marouan El Bali, Mohamed Hamja Arshad Mamood Hajni and Billel H, have all been charged with taking part in terrorist activities, and disobeying legislation on weapons and explosives.
Marouan El Bali has also been charged with premeditated resisting arrest while armed and in a group. Mohamed Hamja Arshad Mamood Hajni and Billel H were arrested in Laecken and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, while Marouan El Bali was arrested in the Verviers apartment where the other two suspects were shot.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, these two men were identified as “Sofiane A., born in 1988, of Belgian-Moroccan nationality, and Khalid B., born in 1991, of Belgian nationality”. They added “there were very good reasons for not releasing all the suspect’s identities sooner”.
A Dutch passport in the name of Zaiud Koullis was also found in the Verviers apartment. “This information has been forwarded to the Dutch authorities, who have opened their own investigation”, said the federal Prosecutor’s Office. It also confirmed the Algerian expat arrested in Greece will be handed over to Belgium in the near future. It also revealed that Abdelmounaim Haddad, the 21 year old suspect wanted in Spain, was at home under electronic surveillance, and that the investigating judge had issued an arrest warrant for him. He will appear before the grand Jury on Friday.
(Source: Belga)
