IS terror suspect: ‘I’m man in the hat’
ONE of the suspected masterminds of the IS attacks in Brussels and Paris was last night charged with terrorrelated offences – as he sensationally admitted to being the notorious ‘man in the hat’ seen on video with two suicide bombers.
Belgium’s Federal Prosecution Office (FPO) said Mohamed Abrini ‘confessed his presence at the crime scene’ after being confronted by investigators.
Abrini and three other men, named as Osama K, Herve BM and Bilal EM, were charged with participating in ‘terrorist murders’ and the ‘activities of a terrorist group’.
Abrini was filmed at Brussels Airport on March 22 with two bombers who blew themselves up shortly afterwards, while another bomber attacked the city’s Metro system.
The images had been plastered over world media as authorities conducted an unprecedented manhunt. Brussels remained on high alert last night amid fears reprisals were ‘likely’. Last month’s attacks on the city, which killed 32 people and injured 270 others, came days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, another of the suspected attackers in Paris, where 130 died on November 13 last year.
The FPO would only confirm Osama K was from Sweden. Swedish media claimed he was Osama Krayem, who left the city of Malmo to fight in Syria.
Detectives are investigating Krayem’s role in the Brussels attack after a man fitting his description was filmed by security cameras at a shopping mall where the bags used by the airport bombers were bought. The FPO also accuses him of being present at the attack on the Maelbeek Metro station.
French authorities suspect Krayem of having links to the Paris attacks.
Krayem had earlier been identified posting photos from Syria on social media, according to Magnus Ranstorp, a counterterrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College.
The four men were arrested in Belgium on Friday in a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been pilloried for mishandling leads in the investigation.
The terrorism threat in Britain remained at severe last night, meaning authorities believe an attack is ‘highly likely’ though there is no evidence one is ‘imminent’.