A Belgian national with direct links to the Paris terror attacks has been arrested in Morocco, Belgian Federal Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said Monday.
Gelel Attar, 26, traveled to Syria in 2013 a suicide bomber who blew himself up in a police raid on a suburban Paris apartment following the Nov. 13, 2015 terror attacks that killed 130.
Attar and the bomber, Chakib Akrouh, also were convicted with alleged Paris ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud last August for participation in terrorist activity, Van der Sypt said. Attar was sentenced to five years in prison but was absent from his trial, triggering an international arrest warrant.
Moroccan authorities tracked Attar down on Friday, the state-run Maghreb Arab Press said. Because he is also a Moroccan national, he most likely will not be extradited to Belgium, Van der Sypt said.
The Associated Press quoted Morocco's Interior Ministry as saying the suspect — the official did not give Attar's name — had spent time in Syria with ISIS fighters.
A number of the terrorists behind and tied to the Nov. 13 Paris attacks had ties to Belgium — including Salah Abdeslam, who has been on the run since the terror spree but is a French national.
Related: Paris Attack Fugitive Salah Abdeslam's Fingerprint Found in Belgium
