"Additionally, there will be concern that Krayem, a Swedish jihadist who had been to Syria, managed to slip into Belgium unnoticed -- as had another senior figure in the Paris/Brussels cell, Mohamed Belkaid. Belkaid was shot dead in a police raid days before the Brussels attacks.
Krayem,
a resident of Malmo, was on the radar screen of Swedish intelligence
services, according to Magnus Ranstorp, a counterterrorism expert at the
Swedish National Defense College....
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But
then he managed to get back into Europe undetected. Investigators now
believe that
along with a man using the name Monir Ahmed Alaaj, Krayem reached the Greek island of Leros in September. They traveled through Austria to a refugee camp in Ulm, Germany.
along with a man using the name Monir Ahmed Alaaj, Krayem reached the Greek island of Leros in September. They traveled through Austria to a refugee camp in Ulm, Germany.
On October 3, Abdeslam collected Krayem and Alaaj at an Ibis hotel near the refugee center in Ulm and drove them to Brussels, investigators said. German investigators believe Abdeslam also picked up a third (unidentified) man.
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Alaaj was
arrested with Abdeslam in Molenbeek on March 18, days after their hiding
place in the Forest district of Brussels was discovered by police....
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Faking deaths
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There is concern among European
intelligence officials that ISIS operatives have been faking their own
deaths to make it easier to return to Europe
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Another
man due to be tried in absentia for the Verviers plot is Noureddine
Abraimi, Belgium's national news agency reported. He, too, is on the
security bulletin circulated among European law enforcement agencies in
connection with the Paris attacks....
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The Belgian courts are getting used to
trying terror suspects even if their whereabouts unknown. The first
major trial in Belgium related to jihadi travel to Syria involved 45
defendants but only seven were in court.
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In
another trial in July -- of people associated with Zerkani --14 were
tried in absentia. Two have since been killed. Another, Reda Kriket, was
arrested in France last month. But 11, all of whom have international
arrest warrants, remain at large.
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The
complexity of the legal process, often involving more than a dozen
defendants in terror cases, also means that trials are slow to open. The
Verviers raid was almost 15 months ago. The federal prosecutor hopes
the trial of those alleged to have been involved will open this month,
but the defense wants it delayed until the fall."...
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