Captured under private supervision: French police have arrested Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old resident of Roubaix in northern France, suspected of carrying out the deadly terror attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Mehdi was arrested on Friday at the Saint-Charles bus station in Marseille. He was reportedly caught during a routine customs check.
Even before customs officers inspected the bag he was carrying – which contained a Kalashnikov rifle, a pistol and a GoPro camera – they suspected that he was a wanted man in the Jewish Museum massacre. Clothing and a hat similar to those of the shooter, who appeared in the museum's security photos, were found in the bag.
According to media reports in France and Belgium, the suspect aroused even greater suspicion when he refused to open his file to customs officers, who are accustomed to searching for drugs on passengers arriving on bus routes from Amsterdam and Brussels.
A thorough search also revealed a gas mask, ammunition, and a newspaper clipping reporting on the murder at the Jewish Museum.
Among the items found in the trunk of the bus in which Nemush was traveling were a pistol, a Kalashnikov rifle, a GoPro camera and a hat. Also found were the words "Allahu Akbar" and sunglasses, as well as items of clothing associated with "ISIS," or the "Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham," a large rebel faction in Syria that drew inspiration from al-Qaeda.
The Paris Prosecutor General, François Molins, held a press conference this afternoon, in which he explained: "On Saturday, May 24, a man appeared at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, armed with a rifle, and killed Emmanuel and Mira Riva, and then shot two other people." The Prosecutor General detailed the criminal history of the suspect, who was sentenced to prison five times and served a total of five years in prison. Among other things, he was arrested in 2004 and sent to 30 months in prison for violent robbery, and in 2006 he was sentenced to driving without a license. He was then sentenced again to seven months in prison for driving without a license. He was then arrested again for violent robbery, and in 2008 he was sentenced to two years for two more cases of violent robbery.
The suspect managed to leave France without the police knowing, even though he was being monitored by them. "Last March, upon his arrival in Germany, the Germans informed us that he had returned to Europe. He had been missing for a good few years, so it was impossible to track him. As soon as he arrived in French territory, he was arrested on the spot.".
The prosecution confirmed that Nemmouche, a French citizen living in the northern city of Roubaix, said during his interrogation that he was homeless. According to police, he visited Syria last year and lived with jihadists for three months.
In Syria, he trained with jihadist fighters. According to sources in the French intelligence service, Nemmush spent several months in Syria, from the beginning of 2013 until March 2013. According to French media reports, the suspect became close to Islam while in prison, and immediately after his release, he crossed the border into Belgium, and from there he left for Syria, not before visiting Britain, Lebanon, and Turkey.
In the shooting attack at the Jewish Museum, the couple Mira and Emmanuel Riva, from Tel Aviv, and two museum employees were murdered – a French citizen in her 60s and a 23-year-old Belgian man.
Last Sunday, Brussels police released footage of the terrorist from the museum's security cameras. The images show the terrorist wearing a visor hat and carrying bags. He was holding a Kalashnikov rifle.
According to reports in Belgium, the search efforts were also joined by officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in light of the expected visit of US President Barack Obama to the city during the coming week. The authorities increased their investigative efforts before Obama's arrival for fear of further action, and because during the visit, it will be more difficult to continue the search due to blockades in the city and security arrangements for the president's motorcade.
The suspect was wearing a GoPro camera on his chest, with which he attempted to document the murderous campaign, but due to a malfunction, the camera did not record. However, the French prosecution announced that Nemmosh subsequently recorded a new video in which he confessed to his actions, and this is one of the main pieces of evidence against him.
His aunt said today that the family "were shocked" to learn this morning of his arrest. "He is a nice, smart and learned man. He also studied at the university for one year, but he was also very secretive, and was not a person who gave trust easily.".
Sulifa Badawi, a lawyer who represented Nemmush in a case in which a driver was arrested without a license plate, said: "He is a smart and intelligent person, but not religious.".
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