Paris suspect
France charges suspect in foiled plot
and explosives, and holding fake documents, among other charges. Kriket will stay in custody while magistrates continue investigating the case and determine whether to send him to trial.
Kriket is believed to have traveled to Syria in 2014 and 2015 and made several trips between France and Belgium and the Netherlands, Molins said.
At least three other people are in custody in the case in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Molins did not say whether Kriket’s purported plot was linked to the Islamic State network behind last week’s attacks in Brussels and last November’s attacks in Paris.
The prosecutor said no target for Kriket’s thwarted attack has been identified, and Kriket has given limited explanation to investigators in his six days in detention.
Two Algerians believed linked to Kriket’s alleged plot are being held in Brussels. The Belgian federal prosecutors’ office said Wednesday that the men, identified as Abderrahmane A. and Rabah M., will face a hearing April 7.
Another Frenchman linked to Kriket, Anis Bari, is being held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, Molins said. Bari is resisting extradition to France.
Among things found when police searched Kriket’s apartment in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil on Thursday were 500 grams of the explosive TATP, 1.3 kilograms of industrial explosives, several bottles of oxygenated water and acetone, material to make detonators, five automatic rifles, seven cell phones, stolen passports and two computers showing links with jihadi groups, Molins said.
BRUSSELS, March 31, (Agencies): Bomb-damaged Brussels airport said Thursday it was “technically ready” to reopen but would not resume flights yet, as prime Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam indicated he wanted to cooperate with French authorities.
Zaventem airport has been closed since its departure hall was wrecked in coordinated Islamic State suicide attacks on March 22 that also struck the city’s metro system and killed 32 people.
In a bid to end the travel chaos caused by the closure of an important European air hub, hundreds of staff staged drills earlier this week to test temporary check-in facilities as well as enhanced security measures.
The bombings came just four months after 130 people were killed in terror assaults in Paris. Investigators have since uncovered connections between the two attacks, exposing a complex web of cross-border jihadist networks.
Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect of the Paris attacks, was arrested in Brussels on March 18 after four months on the run.
The arrest was considered a rare success in Belgium’s anti-terror fight, although he was found just metres from his family home and has refused to talk since the Brussels bombings despite having links to the attackers.
“Salah Abdeslam wants to be handed over to the French authorities,” lawyer Cedric Moisse told reporters in Brussels. “I can also confirm that he wants to cooperate with the French authorities.”
A prosecutor was to meet with Abdeslam at the prison where he is being held in the western city of Bruges to discuss his extradition under a European arrest warrant. A judge is set to rule on the extradition by Friday at the latest. Meanwhile, Paris authorities filed preliminary terrorism charges Wednesday against a 34-year-old Frenchman for allegedly plotting an imminent attack and operating an explosives arsenal of what prosecutors called “unprecedented scale.”
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday that the suspect, Reda Kriket, is accused of participating in a terrorist group with plans for at least one attack, possessing and transporting arms