Moroccan Interior Ministry officials reported Monday that a Belgian man believed to be have links to ISIS, as well as having a "direct relationship" to those who carried out the Paris attacks on Nov.13, was arrested by police in the country's port city of Mohammedia.
The man, identified by French and Moroccan authorities as 26-year-old Gelel Attar, a dual Belgian-Moroccan national previously convicted in absentia by Belgium of involvement with a terrorist group, reported Sky News. He had reportedly traveled to Syria with Chakib Akrouh, one of the Paris suicide bombers, where he received military training and built relationships with ISIS field commanders, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged mastermind of the Paris attacks.
Attar was reportedly arrested Friday after travelling through Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, reported the International Business Times. His arrest is the 11th to be made in connection to the attacks.
The other 10 are:
• Ayoub B., arrested during a police raid on a house in Molenbeek and charged with "terrorist murder" and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization;
•Abdoullah C., believed to have been in contact with Hasna Ait Boulahcen, who died in a police raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Nov. 18;
•Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou, accused of being Salah Abdeslam's getaway drivers;
•Abraimi Lazez and Ali Oulkadi, accused of helping Abdeslam after the attacks;
•Abdellah Chouaa, a suspected associate of Abdeslam;
•Mohamed Bakkali, resident of a house in the Belgian town of Auvelais that may have been used as a hide-out;
•Two men, identified only as Samir Z. and Pierre N., who are believed to have been friends of Bilal Hadfi, another one of the attackers.
As of Monday, Attar was being held in Sale, close to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, but Belgium has yet to say for sure whether he will be extradited, according to CNN.
"There is an international arrest warrant," said Erik Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor in Belgium. "Normally Morocco does not extradite its own nationals. So we will see. We don't know yet."
News of this comes as authorities have made a variety of new discoveries related to the Paris attacks, including the discovery of a bomb-making factory and safe house. However, the global manhunt for Salah Abdeslam, 26, believed to be the only direct participant in the attack who is still alive, rages on. He's been reported to have travelled to various locations since he was officially named as a suspect, and most recently it's been believed he's either in Morocco or Syria.
