It has emerged that before last week’s Brussels attack one of the suspects arrested in Paris earlier was in contact with the Tunisian perpetrator Abdessalem Lassoued, a failed asylum seeker, who was staying in the country illegally. In the shooting last week Monday two Swedish football fans were shot dead, a third was injured.
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“Brussels attacker asked Paris suspect where Swedish football team was staying”
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The French daily Le Parisien was the first to report the news that has been confirmed by sources close to the investigation. The Paris suspect’s role may possibly have been greater than investigators had assumed so far, although it is not yet clear whether the man was aware of the plans for the attack.
During the weekend before the attack, Lassoued was in contact with one of the two Tunisians arrested and detained in Paris via voice messaging. They reportedly talked about the football match between Belgium and Sweden and Lassoued inquired about where the Swedish players were staying. His friend then allegedly advised him to look up more information on the internet.
Contact between the two, just after the attack, is also being alleged. One of the Parisian suspects had seen Lassoued's video posted on social media after the attack. The Parisian suspect called Lassoued to ask if he was responsible, which Lassoued then confirmed. This would have been around 8pm, less than an hour after the attack. The conversation is said to have lasted one to two minutes.
It is not yet clear whether the man was aware of the plans for the attack. His lawyer has formally denied that his client had anything to do with it. "He has nothing to do with the attack from near or far," he said. "He is still in shock as a result of the fact that the perpetrator was someone close to him. He never thought he would be involved in such serious acts." The man is a childhood friend of Lassoued's and comes from the same village in Tunisia.
The Parisian suspect was arrested on Thursday and has since also been detained on suspicion of participating in a terrorist organisation and complicity in murder in connection with a terrorist undertaking. He is currently in detention.
So far, investigators here assume that Abdessalem Lassoued, who was shot dead by police last Tuesday week, acted alone. Further investigations should reveal whether he had any kind of help. "Everything is now being checked," says Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Flemish liberal/Open VLD). "Just last week, the federal prosecutor stressed that it looks like we are dealing with a lone operator, someone who decides on their own to do terrible things. That does not alter the fact that these guys must have been radicalised somewhere. That often happens through social media, but that does not necessarily mean there is a network."
Besides this suspect, another man was also arrested in the Paris region - a man in his fifties, also from Tunisia. Earlier, someone was also arrested in Nantes. He was released after questioning. A police raid also took place in Dresden, Germany.