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| New Brussels Attack Suspect Is Charged, Prosecutors Say | New Brussels Attack Suspect Is Charged, Prosecutors Say |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BRUSSELS — Federal prosecutors in Belgium announced Saturday that they had arrested a suspect believed to have been deeply involved in the Brussels plot. He was charged with participating in a terrorist group, in terrorist murders and in attempted terrorist murders. | |
| The man was identified by the authorities as Fayçal C. and in the Belgian press as Fayçal Cheffou, an independent journalist. | |
| Eric Van der Sijpt, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said Saturday that the authorities were trying to confirm whether Mr. Cheffou is the man caught in a surveillance photograph on Tuesday right before the bombs went off at Brussels Aiport. The man, shown wearing a white coat and a dark hat and pushing a luggage cart, is believed to have escaped after two accomplices detonated their explosives. | Eric Van der Sijpt, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said Saturday that the authorities were trying to confirm whether Mr. Cheffou is the man caught in a surveillance photograph on Tuesday right before the bombs went off at Brussels Aiport. The man, shown wearing a white coat and a dark hat and pushing a luggage cart, is believed to have escaped after two accomplices detonated their explosives. |
| The police found no weapons or explosives during a search of Mr. Cheffou’s home. | The police found no weapons or explosives during a search of Mr. Cheffou’s home. |
| Mr. Cheffou appears to have made a video in July 2014 in which he stands in front of a detention center for refugees and asylum seekers in Steenokkerzeel, near Zaventem, where the Brussels Airport is. In the video, Mr. Cheffou criticizes the government for serving Muslim refugees meals before the end of the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. | |
| He was taken into custody on Thursday, and the judge in charge of the case issued a formal arrest warrant on Friday in keeping with Belgian law, which requires a hearing before a judge and a warrant to be issued within 24 hours to keep a suspect in detention. | |
| Three other men were also detained in Brussels for further questioning, the prosecutor’s office said. One was identified as Rabah N., who was mistakenly identified as Salah A. in a previous news release, the prosecutor’s office said. | Three other men were also detained in Brussels for further questioning, the prosecutor’s office said. One was identified as Rabah N., who was mistakenly identified as Salah A. in a previous news release, the prosecutor’s office said. |
| Rabah N. is accused of being connected to Reda Kriket, the suspect detained on Thursday near Paris by the French authorities. The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said on Thursday that Mr. Kriket was in the advanced stages of planning an attack in France. | Rabah N. is accused of being connected to Reda Kriket, the suspect detained on Thursday near Paris by the French authorities. The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said on Thursday that Mr. Kriket was in the advanced stages of planning an attack in France. |
| Mr. Kriket is a jihadist who raised money for a network of militants in 2012 and 2013 and traveled to Syria in late 2014. He was well known to the security services in both France and Belgium, and he was named in a 2015 court proceeding along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the on-the-ground chief planner of the Paris attacks. | Mr. Kriket is a jihadist who raised money for a network of militants in 2012 and 2013 and traveled to Syria in late 2014. He was well known to the security services in both France and Belgium, and he was named in a 2015 court proceeding along with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the on-the-ground chief planner of the Paris attacks. |
| Although details of the plot involving Mr. Kriket have not yet emerged, the authorities have said that so far it was not linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris or the attacks in Brussels this past week. | Although details of the plot involving Mr. Kriket have not yet emerged, the authorities have said that so far it was not linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris or the attacks in Brussels this past week. |
| Two other men were also being held. One, identified as Abderamane A., was shot by the police and subdued at a tram stop in the Schaerbeek section of Brussels on Friday. Specific charges have not been filed yet, but the police said they were keeping him for an additional 24 hours for questioning. | |
| The other man, Aboubaker A., was formally arrested and charged with participation in a terrorist group. A man detained with him in a car was released. | The other man, Aboubaker A., was formally arrested and charged with participation in a terrorist group. A man detained with him in a car was released. |
| The investigating judge in charge of these cases also released a second person on Saturday, Tawfik A., after he was detained Friday for questioning. | The investigating judge in charge of these cases also released a second person on Saturday, Tawfik A., after he was detained Friday for questioning. |