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| Salah Abdeslam's extradition to France approved by Belgium | Salah Abdeslam's extradition to France approved by Belgium |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Belgian judicial authorities have approved the extradition to France of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, prosecutors said, adding that a date for the transfer had not been set. | |
| “As Salah Abdeslam had declared to agree to be transferred to France, a federal magistrate took his formal declaration today … The transfer is possible,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. | |
| “Belgian and French authorities will now consider jointly on how to proceed further in the execution of the transfer,” the statement added. | |
| The sole surviving suspect in the 13 November Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed, Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on 18 March 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. | |
| A lawyer for Abdeslam, who has been held in a prison in the Belgian city of Bruges, earlier said his client wanted to cooperate with French authorities. | |
| “I can confirm that Salah Abdeslam wants to be handed over to the French authorities,” his lawyer, Cedric Moisse, told reporters at a court hearing in Brussels. “I can also confirm that he wants to cooperate with the French authorities.” | “I can confirm that Salah Abdeslam wants to be handed over to the French authorities,” his lawyer, Cedric Moisse, told reporters at a court hearing in Brussels. “I can also confirm that he wants to cooperate with the French authorities.” |
| Belgium has increasingly found itself at the centre of Europe’s battle against terrorism and authorities have faced strong criticism for not doing enough to keep tabs on suspected extremists. | Belgium has increasingly found itself at the centre of Europe’s battle against terrorism and authorities have faced strong criticism for not doing enough to keep tabs on suspected extremists. |
| Related: Belgium searches soul after home-grown jihadis slipped through net | Related: Belgium searches soul after home-grown jihadis slipped through net |
| Belgian police on Thursday carried out a raid linked to a foiled French terror plot. Soldiers and police combed through a wooded area by a busy motorway near Courtrai in north-west Belgium, the latest in a series of raids since the Paris and Brussels attacks exposed a tangled web of cross-border jihadi cells. | |
| The latest raid was linked to a thwarted plot in which the main suspect, Reda Kriket, was charged in France on Wednesday with membership of a terrorist organisation after police found an arsenal of weapons and explosives at his home. | |
| “A raid is underway in connection with the [Reda]Kriket case,” said a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office Eric Van der Sypt. | |
| He said it was taking place in Marke, near the town of Courtrai, also known as Kortrijk, close to the French border. | He said it was taking place in Marke, near the town of Courtrai, also known as Kortrijk, close to the French border. |
| Masked police and armed soldiers – some carrying metal detectors, others accompanied by sniffer dogs – appeared to be focussing on a sealed-off wooded area near a house and a petrol station along the E17 motorway. | Masked police and armed soldiers – some carrying metal detectors, others accompanied by sniffer dogs – appeared to be focussing on a sealed-off wooded area near a house and a petrol station along the E17 motorway. |
| In what could signal improved security cooperation, several European countries have made arrests in recent days over the thwarted plot linked to Kriket. | In what could signal improved security cooperation, several European countries have made arrests in recent days over the thwarted plot linked to Kriket. |
| Kriket, 34, was detained near Paris last week and a raid on his apartment netted a cache of assault rifles, handguns and TATP, the highly volatile homemade explosive favoured by Islamic State jihadists. | Kriket, 34, was detained near Paris last week and a raid on his apartment netted a cache of assault rifles, handguns and TATP, the highly volatile homemade explosive favoured by Islamic State jihadists. |
| Abdeslam 26, has asserted his right to remain silent since the day after his arrest, having been questioned for three hours only about the Paris attacks and not about possible further activity. | Abdeslam 26, has asserted his right to remain silent since the day after his arrest, having been questioned for three hours only about the Paris attacks and not about possible further activity. |
| The Belgian-born French citizen, who was caught unarmed after being shot in the leg in a dramatic police raid in Brussels, told interrogators he had intended to blow himself up at the Stade de France in Paris but backed out at the last minute. | The Belgian-born French citizen, who was caught unarmed after being shot in the leg in a dramatic police raid in Brussels, told interrogators he had intended to blow himself up at the Stade de France in Paris but backed out at the last minute. |
| He refused to speak to investigators after Brussels was hit on 22 March by suicide attacks at the airport and a metro station in which 32 people died. | He refused to speak to investigators after Brussels was hit on 22 March by suicide attacks at the airport and a metro station in which 32 people died. |