Officials from the Belgian capital categorically refute that the Moroccan man who was arrested yesterday along with 3 other suspects at an apartment in Pagrati, Athens, is the ringleader of the Islamist cell recently dismantled in Belgium.
The man matched the description of the alleged mastermind of the cell, namely Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, who was born in Belgium to Moroccan parents, and raised in the working-class Brussels district of Molenbeek.
Earlier on Saturday, several reports claimed that Abaaoud has been in regular contact with the cell in Verviers, where two extremists were killed and one arrested. There were also reports that the man remained in Greece.
According to foreign media (Associated Press and Deutsche Welle) Federal Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said that none of the men who were arrested in Athens is linked to the case of the terrorist attack that was foiled on Thursday in Belgium.
It is remined that two suspects were killed and a third wounded in a vast anti-terrorism sweep in Belgium on Thursday, that led to the arrest of several returnees from Islamic holy war in Syria. According to Eric Van der Sypt, the suspects were within hours of implementing a plan to kill police.
