Paris suspect walked outside police station Taunted cops before he was found... 500 yards from where attacks were plotted
Flat where suspect was eventually shot and held Minutes away... Brussels’ Molenbeek police HQ THE Paris terror suspect charged yesterday roamed his neighbourhood for weeks while on the run – and taunted cops by walking past a police station.
Salah Abdeslam, 26, was finally arrested on Friday in a small flat in Brussels, only 500 yards from the spot where the November atrocity which killed 130 people was masterminded.
It is also just a few blocks from his family’s home in the Belgian capital.
Yet it took police more than 126 days to find him.
They had a breakthrough on Thursday after gathering intelligence at the funeral of Abdeslam’s brother Brahim, who blew himself up in the Paris bombings.
We can also reveal that Army commandos decided to storm the flat in the run- down Brussels suburb of Molenbeek after seeing a “large order” of pizza boxes being delivered, which convinced them he was inside.
Abdeslam, who was shot in leg during his arrest, has revealed he wanted to blow himself up during the attack on Paris but changed his mind, French prosecutors said last night. Investigators Abdeslam family home is in sight from station hope he will reveal new information about the Islamic State network behind the Paris attacks.
A woman who lives in Molenbeek – a hotbed of radical Muslims dubbed the Jihadi capital of Europe – told of a wall of silence which allowed Abdeslam to remain on the run.
She claimed: “Everybody knew Salah was here – and not only him. It was also known that Mohamed Abrini was in the house next to the pharmacy.
“In recent weeks they were walking around openly wearing ski hats.
“One month ago, purely for the love of it, they walked in front of the local police station.” Abrini is also wanted by police.
The woman, who was too scared to give her name, added: “Two friends went to pick up Salah in Paris before
bringing him here. This has nothing to do with Molenbeek and has nothing to do with Islam.
“This is a small group of criminals who should have been treated more vigorously by the police.”
Abdeslam is alleged to be a key planner of the atrocity on November 13, acting as driver and taking charge of logistics like hotel bookings.
HIDING
He is said to have rented a car that was used to drive gunmen to the Bataclan theatre, where they gunned down fans at a rock gig.
But he ditched his suicide vest and fled instead of detonating it. He then managed to pass through three police checkpoints in France.
After he got to Belgium, police did not raid a house where he was thought to be hiding because the law prohibits searches at night. He is also thought to have hidden in a cupboard being taken out of a Brussels flat by removal men.
Rumours spread that he had fled to Syria, or Morocco where his family originated.
Abdeslam, who has a bullet wound below his knee, was in custody in Brussels last night, charged with “participation in terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation”.
Friday’s raid in which he and four other people were arrested took place a day earlier than planned after a French news magazine leaked information that his fingerprints had been found at another apartment in Brussels that was raided on Tuesday.
It is believed Abdeslam climbed through a skylight on Tuesday before escaping over rooftops.
He will now be extradited to France. A Belgian source said: “Beyond his leg wound, he’s in good health.”
Two other men arrested on Friday have been charged with terrorism-related offences and a third with harbouring criminals.
Eleven people have now been arrested and charged in Belgium since November in connection with the Paris attacks.