Simon Hunter
A FUGITIVE with alleged links to the man who carried out a terrorist attack in Belgium on October 16 has been arrested in Benahavis, Malaga province, and has been taken into police custody.
According to Spanish news agency Efe, the suspect was subject to an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the Belgian authorities for alleged offences including drug trafficking, arms dealing, money laundering and belonging to a criminal organisation.
In a statement, the Spanish police stated that the suspect was carrying fake identity documents at the time of his arrest.
As well as detaining the man in Benahavis, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, the authorities also searched his home where they seized documents, electronic devices and a large sum of money in cash.
The attack in Brussels on October 16 saw two Sweden football fans killed by a 45-year-old Tunisian national, who was later shot dead by the police after a manhunt. The man, who called himself Abdesalem Al Guilani, claimed in a video that he posted on social media that he was fighting for Allah.
At the time, the Belgian authorities stated that they could not confirm whether or not the attacker had acted alone.
An automatic weapon found on the suspect after he was killed by the police was confirmed to be the same one used to shoot the two Swedish men, one of whom was in his sixties and the other in his seventies.
Read more:
- Spain is monitoring 12 known Jihadists who have returned from Syria and Iraq
- Suspect in deadly Algeciras church attack told police he had been ‘chosen’ by Allah
- Alleged terrorist in Girona searched online how to carry out stabbing attack day of arrest
