Italian authorities arrested an Algerian national linked to Brussels and Paris terror attack. The said man is under the Belgium authorities' wanted list for allegedly being involved in a Belgium-based network which produced fake documents for the attackers' illegal immigration.
According to Herald News, Djamal Eddine Ouali, 40 years old was captured by the Salerno police's anti-terrorism forces in Bellizi town, located outside of the port city of Salerno. Luigi Amato, the head of Salerno of the forces said, the Algerian national suspect was not aware that he was on Belgian authorities' wanted list.
Quali already had his residency permit in Italy after he arrived in Italy in December, with his wife, who was also an Algerian national, Amato said. France 24 reported, He is suspected as accomplice, being in criminal network, which provides false documents for the purpose of illegal immigration. Expected extradition procedures to soon begin, the police official said.
Since the 6th of January, Salerno authorities raised their suspicion to Ouali when they noticed he similar name of man sought by Belgium for alleged involvement in "a criminal network dedicated to fake documents on a large scale" that emerged last year in Brussels.
He is suspected to have provided Najim Laachraoui, one of the three Brussels airport suicide bombers with falsified documents, UPI reported. It was also speculated that he also helped the arrested Salah Abdeslam, who recently arrested over the Paris terror attack.
Belgium authorities issued a warrant in January, three months after a raid in the Brussels suburb of Saint-Gilles yielded some thousand digital images used for false documents. On the said raid, they discovered "photos and of some aliases used by the three terrorists belonging to the group which planned and carried out the attacks in Paris" on Nov. 13, 2015, the Italian police statement said.
One of those photographed was Najim Laachraoui, a suicide bomber at Brussels airport. Investigations are ongoing as to how Ouali came to be in Italy and into the networks of which he may have been a part.
