Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has been extradited from Belgium to France to face terror charges, officials said Wednesday.
Abdeslam has been in Belgian custody awaiting extradition over the coordinated terror spree that left 130 dead across Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Authorities say Abdeslam — whose brother blew himself up in the Paris attacks — backed out of being a suicide bomber in the terror spree and fled to Belgium.
Abdeslam spent nearly four months on the run as Europe's most-wanted man. He was captured in Brussels in March following a dramatic firefight and charged with "terrorist murder."
Belgium's federal prosecutor issued a statement Wednesday saying that Abdeslam "has been surrendered to the French authorities this morning."
The Paris prosecutor confirmed that Abdeslam was served with a formal arrest warrant on French territoryshortly after 9:00 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) and said the suspect will be indicted later Wednesday.
Belgian officials had kept the timings and nature of the extradition quiet for what appeared to be security reasons.
The arrest of Abdeslam — suspected Paris attacks plotter and aborted suicide bomber — was viewed as a potentially massive intelligence opportunity to glean insight into ISIS.
It also came just four days before suicide bombers attacked the Brussels airport and subway, killing more than 30 people in three separate explosions.
One of Abdeslam's suspected accomplices — a man who used the alias Soufiane Kayal — has since been identified as Brussels bomber Najim Laachraoui.
