Mohamed Abrini, the man suspected of last year’s Brussels airport attack, has been placed under formal investigation in France over the 2015 Paris terror attacks, his lawyers say.
He was handed over to French authorities for a day so he could be charged.
Mohamed Abrini was arrested last April in Brussels.
The gun and bomb attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, killed 130 people.
Mohamed Abrini was spotted in a car with key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam when it stopped at a petrol station in Ressons two days before the attacks on the French capital.
His fingerprints and DNA were found in two “safe houses” in Brussels, as well as in a car used during the Paris attacks.
Following his arrest, Mohamed Abrini also admitted picking up Salah Abdeslam after the attacks and driving him back to Belgium.
He was driven to Paris from Belgium in a heavily armed convoy so the case against him could be formally launched, BFMTV reported.
Mohamed Abrini was not asked any questions during his court appearance in front of six judges, his lawyer Emmanuel Pierrat said in a statement.
However, the lawyer said his client was in Belgium when the attacks in Paris were carried out.
Emmanuel Pierrat also said the fact that Mohamed Abrini was being investigated in both France and Belgium over the Paris attacks could lead to legal complications.
Mohamed Abrini is also under investigation in Belgium over the bomb attack on Brussels Zaventem Airport, which along with an attack on a metro station in the city killed 32 people.
Both the Paris and Brussels attacks were claimed by ISIS.
Two explosions have struck the departures area of Zaventem airport in Brussels, Belgium.
Belgian officials have confirmed casualties but have given no numbers. The cause of the explosions is unknown.
Another explosion has now been reported at the Maelbeek metro station close to the EU institutions. The whole metro system has been closed.
The explosions come four days after the capture in Brussels of Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the jihadist attacks in Paris in November 2015.
Belgium has now raised its terror threat to its highest level.
Emergency services are clearing the airport completely. Belgium’s Het Laatste Nieuws reports that more bombs have been found.
The airport is being evacuated and has been closed to flights.
Shots were fired and shouts in Arabic were heard before the two explosions, the Belga news agency reports.
Images on social media showed smoke rising from one of the buildings, amid reports of panic as people fled the airport.
Rail transport to the facility has been halted and people have been told not to come to the airport.
Photo Wikipedia
All flights have been diverted.
Other reports say at least one of the explosions was close to the American Airlines check-in area but this has not been confirmed.
The Belgian broadcaster RTBF quoted a witness as saying there were people injured or unconscious in the departure area, opposite the Sheraton hotel.
There are few reports yet about the metro blast.
Belgium’s Interior Minister Jan Jambon had said on March 21 that the country was on the highest level of alert for possible revenge attacks after the capture of Salah Abdeslam.
He told Belgian radio: “We know that stopping one cell can… push others into action. We are aware of it in this case.”
Zaventem airport is 7 miles north-east of Brussels and dealt with more than 23 million passengers in 2015.
Belgium has raised the terror alert in Brussels to the highest level fearing an attack “like the one that happened in Paris” last week, PM Charles Michel says.
The fear was that “several individuals with arms and explosives could launch an attack… perhaps even in several places”, Charles Michel said.
Some of the attackers who killed 130 people in Paris lived in Brussels.
Paris attacks leading suspect Salah Abdeslam is believed to have gone back to Belgium.
A huge manhunt is under way.
The Brussels metro is closed till November 22 and people have been told to avoid crowds.
Photo AP
These include shopping centers and concerts, and the authorities have also recommended that large events, including football matches, be canceled, a statement said.
The warning for the rest of Belgium stays at a lower level, which is still at a “serious” level.
The Belgian government will review the security situation in Brussels on November 22, Charles Michel added.
Interior Minister Jan Jambon earlier told reporters Belgium’s situation was “serious”, but “under control”, as he arrived for a special security cabinet meeting on November 21.
Turkish police say they have arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan descent on suspicion that he scouted out sites in Paris, Turkish news agencies report.
The Belgian authorities have so far charged three people with involvement in the attacks, which ISIS said it carried out.
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