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Belgian prosecutor appeals for information on Najim Laachraoui, suspected of helping Abdeslam

Xinhua, March 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Belgian federal prosecutor has launched an appeal for information about Najim Laachraoui, the man suspected of renting apartments under a fake name to be used as hideouts for Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam.

La Libre Belgique newspaper reported on Monday that DNA belonging to Laachraoui had been found at a property in the Belgian town of Auvelais, which was raided by police on Nov. 26 and had been rented under the false identity of Soufiane Kayal.

Laachraoui's DNA was also found at an apartment in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek, which investigators say was used by Abdeslam to hide from police following the terror attacks in Paris last November in which 130 people were killed.

According to La Libre, investigators are also looking for 31-year-old Mohamed Abrini, who was filmed on video surveillance in the company of Abdeslam at a motorway service station in northern France two days before the Paris attacks.

Belgian media reported on Monday that Abdeslam could be prepared to work with the authorities in their investigation in return for a lesser sentence, according to his lawyer, Sven Mary.

Abdeslam was arrested in the Brussels district of Molenbeek on Friday afternoon and treated for a gunshot wound at a nearby hospital before being taken under heavy guard to the maximum security wing of Bruges prison.

Mary announced a confession from his client on the weekend. Abdeslam stated: "I was present on Nov. 13 in Paris, and I was to blow myself up, but in the end I did not because I could not go through with it." Endit