Two suspects have been arrested by Greek police over their alleged involvement in a terrorist cell dismantled last week in Belgium, during a deadly police raid in that country. Despite media reports over the weekend that the suspected ringleader was among the suspects arrested in Athens, authorities in the Belgian capital nevertheless dismissed this development.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, who was born in Belgium to Moroccan parents and raised in the working-class Brussels district of Molenbeek, has been identified as the leader of the terror cell. However, the absence of his fingerprints in the group’s Verviers hideout, which was raided by Belgian police last Thursday, raised questions as to his actual presence at the site.
According to Greek police, another man allegedly linked to terrorist activity in Belgium was arrested on Sunday.
The 33-year-old Algerian national detained in Greece by the country’s counter-terrorism unit was spotted in Athens on Saturday.
Two suspects were killed and a third wounded in the large-scale anti-terrorism sweep in Belgium on Thursday, which led to the arrest of several men who had reportedly fought with Islamist rebels or ISIS in Syria.
According to Belgian Federal Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt, the suspects were within hours of implementing a plan to attack police stations and target law enforcement officers.
