Post-mortem held after soldiers shoot Islamist gunman in Paris airport attack

A post-mortem was carried out yesterday to determine if an Islamic extremist was drunk or high on drugs when he took a soldier hostage at Orly Airport in Paris and was shot dead by her fellow patrolmen.

Ziyed Ben Belgacem stopped at a bar in the early hours of Saturday, about four hours before he first fired bird shot at traffic police. Then, 90 minutes later, he attacked the military patrol at Orly, causing panic and the shutdown of the French capital’s second-biggest airport.

A search of his flat found cocaine, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. In a radio interview, the suspect’s father said Belgacem was not a practising Muslim and drank alcohol. “He never attended prayer. He drank. But under influence of alcohol and cannabis, this is where one ends up,” said the unnamed father. Belgacem’s father was released from police custody yesterday. His brother and a cousin are still being questioned.

Mr Molins said Belgacem called his father and brother early that morning, minutes after he fired at a police traffic patrol, injuring an officer in the face, to say he had made a mistake.

The 39-year-old Frenchman had a long criminal record, with multiple jail terms for drugs and robbery offences. He was out on bail, banned from leaving France and obliged to report to police, having been handed preliminary charges for robberies in 2016. He was also flagged as being radicalised during a spell in jail in 2011-12.

His house was among scores searched in 2015 after suicide attacks that killed 130 people in Paris. Yelling he wanted

“Under influence of alcohol and cannabis, this is where one ends up”

to kill and die for Allah, Belgacem wrested away the soldier’s rifle during the airport attack but was shot and killed by her two colleagues before he could fire the military-grade weapon.

Ziyed Ben Belgacem had a lengthy criminal record