News / EU

Belgium hands over another Paris attacks suspect to France

Thursday, 30 June 2016 3:12 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 30 June 2016 3:12 PM ]

Belgian police officers and soldiers stand guard outside the Brussels Palace of Justice during the appearance before the council chamber of two individuals arrested in connection with the last November attacks in Paris, in Brussels on November 20, 2015. (AFP photo)

Authorities in Brussels have handed over to France a Belgian national, who helped a main suspect in connection with the last November attacks in Paris which claimed the lives of 130 people.

Belgian prosecutors said, in a brief statement, on Thursday that Hamza Attou, who helped key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam flee to Brussels, was “surrendered to the French authorities yesterday”.

"No further information will be given concerning the exact time or the circumstances of his transfer," the statement added.

According to Paris prosecutor's office, Attou was given preliminary charges of "helping a terrorist criminal linked to a terrorist act," and then jailed.

Attou and another suspected accomplice, Mohammed Amri, drove Abdeslam back to Brussels shortly after the last November 13 terrorist attacks in the French capital.

French fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall, following fatal shootings in Paris, France, November 13, 2015. (Reuters photo)

Attou and Amri were arrested shortly afterward and charged in Belgium with "participating in terrorist activity." Amri remains in custody in Belgium,

Abdeslam, 26, was arrested on March 18 after a shootout in Belgium’s capital, Brussels. He is a French national of Moroccan descent who was raised in Belgium and is believed to be the last surviving complicit in the Paris attacks.

Belgium extradited Abdeslam to France in late April. He was transferred to the French capital under tight security.

On November 13, 2015, Daesh launched a series of attacks in Paris, killing a total of 130 people. Investigations into the incident revealed that the perpetrators were mostly Belgium-based.

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