Belgian media named Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, a returning Syrian jihadi, as the mastermind of the Paris attacks. Belgian newspaper, Le Soir, cited Belgian sources to outline the role of Abaaoud, a grocer’s son from the Belgian town of Molenbeek, as the radical extremist who was the brains behind the attack.

Aged 28, Abaaoud was believed to be chief of a cell of returned jihadis who had been involved in deadly shootouts with police in Vervier in January. There had been arrests made in the Athens central suburb of Pangrati when his phone had been pinpointed to Greece. Back then, Abaaoud had been sought as the ringleader of a jihadi cell.

Four arrests had been made in Athens on January 17, 2015, including one that matched the description of Abaaoud, but wasn’t.

Abaaoud had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in abstentia along with another 32 jihadis.

The extremist is believed to have taken his brother, aged 13, to Syria. The family had registered him as dead at some point, but authorities had doubted this information.