Abrini admits to being ‘man in the hat’ at Brussels Airport

Brussels : The Belgian authorities have after the arrest of another Paris attacks suspect, Mohamed Abrini, said that they identified the elusive “man in the hat” spotted alongside two suicide bombers, who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport on March 22.

The Belgian prosecutors in a statement yesterday said that 31-year-old Abrini, the last identified suspect at large from the Paris attacks, confessed to being the vest- and hat-wearing man in the video image.

“After being confronted with the results of the different expert examinations, he confessed his presence at the crime scene,” Guardian quoted the statement as saying.

Abrini, was arrested on Friday in a Brussels police raid and was one among the four suspects charged for “participating in terrorist acts” linked to the deadly Brussels suicide bombings that killed at least 32 and left over 250 injuries at the airport and at the city’s Maelbeek subway station.

After the bombings, Abrini threw away his vest in a rubbish bin and sold his hat, said the prosecutors’ office.

The ‘man in the hat’ was filmed alongside the two bombers just before the airport attack and was being looked out for by the authorities.

Three other suspects charged were Herve BM, Bilal EM and Osama K whose full name is Osama Krayem.

The prosecutors said that Osama K was identified as the man present at the time of the metro attack.

All four men were charged with participating in “terrorist murders” and the “activities of a terrorist group”. However, two other suspects arrested on Friday were released.

Abrini has been in Europe’s most wanted list since being identified as one of two suspects seen on CCTV travelling by car to Paris two days before the attacks on the French capital in last November.

He had disappeared before 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks at the national stadium, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall. (ANI)