Brussels attacks: '˜Man in the hat' suspect arrested in raid

Mohamed Abrini has been linked to Novembers Paris shootings. Picture: Getty Images

The suspect, Mohamed Abrini, is believed to be the mysterious “man in the hat” who escaped the double bombing at the Zaventem airport on 22 March, according to one of the French officials.

If true, that would mean Abrini had a key role in both attacks carried out by the Islamic State (IS) cell that left a total of 162 people dead – 130 in Paris and 32 in Brussels.

Yesterday’s arrest of at least two people came a day after Belgian authorities released photos and video of the airport suspect.

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office confirmed “several arrests” but refused to provide more information.

Abrini was the last identified suspect still at large from the 13 November attacks in Paris which killed 130 people, although his precise role has never been clear.

He is a 31-year-old Belgian-Moroccan petty criminal believed to have travelled early last summer to Syria where his younger brother died in 2014 in the IS group’s notorious francophone brigade.

He has not resurfaced since the emergence of surveillance video placing him in the convoy with the attackers headed to Paris.

He had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who died in a police standoff on 18 November, and is a childhood friend of brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam.

He visited Birmingham multiple times last year, meeting several men suspected of terrorist activity, a European security official said.

He said the meetings, including one later last summer, took place in several locations, including cafes and apartments.

He was traveling with Salah Abdeslam, who is in jail in Belgium for involvement in the Paris attacks, in the convoy headed to Paris in the 36 hours leading up to the attacks.

The “man in the hat” was with the two suicide bombers who killed 16 people at Brussels airport on 22 March. A second arrest could also be linked to the Maelbeek subway bombing that killed another 16 people during rush hour that morning.

On Thursday, authorities released photos and video of a man wearing a dark hat, leaving the airport on foot, walking to the nearby town of Zaventem and then into Brussels, where all traces of him were reportedly lost.