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Ninth person arrested in Belgium over Paris attacks Ninth person charged in Belgium over Paris attacks
(about 1 hour later)
Brussels police have arrested a man in connection with the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November that killed 130 people, federal prosecutors have said, bringing the total number of arrests in Belgium to nine. Belgian authorities have charged a ninth person in connection with the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November that killed 130 people, federal prosecutors have said.
The man was arrested earlier this week but prosecutors kept it quiet in order not to alert potential accomplices, a spokesman said. Further details will be released later on Thursday, he said. A spokesman said the suspect had telephoned Hasna Aitboulachen, the cousin of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, several times after the attacks and before a police raid five days later in which they both died.
Belgian newspaper DH reported that the man arrested had been contacted by Hasna Ait Boulahcen, who gave shelter to the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Boulahcen and Abaaoud were both killed in a police raid days after the attacks. Related: This was the year that fear nearly won. We can’t let it
On Monday, police detained five people in searches in Brussels, but all were later released. A statement later identified the man as Abdoullah C, a Belgian national born in 1985, who was arrested on Tuesday on charges of “terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation”.
The attacks and the Belgian links to them have shocked the country and sparked a sharp increase in visible security, with armed police and soldiers patrolling the streets in Brussels.
The police are especially looking for Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, 26, who is believed to have fled from Paris back to the Belgian capital the day after the attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. A source close to the investigation told AFP last week that Abdeslam, who is believed to have played a key role in the Paris attacks, had got through three police checks as friends drove him from Paris.
Several people have since been charged with helping Abdeslam on his return to Brussels where he lived in the Moelenbeek district, along with several others implicated in the attacks and extremist Islamist groups.