Penpix of Paris terror suspects

Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested in Brussels on Friday, the latest blow to the sprawling network of Islamic State linked jiihadists behind deadly attacks in the two capitals.

Abrini’s detention means that all of the people investigators believe planned or took part directly in the November 13 carnage in Paris that killed 130 people are either dead or in custody.

Here is a summary of the main suspects:

– The latest capture –

The federal prosecutor’s office said Mohamed Abrini was arrested in the Anderlecht district of Brussels, which was home to several other suspects linked to both the Paris and Brussels attacks.

The 30-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin became friends with Salah Abdeslam — believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks — when they were growing up in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, a known hotbed of Islamist radicalism.

Nicknamed “Brioche”, Abrini is thought to have given up training as a welder at age 18 and begun gravitating towards the extremist milieu.

Previously known to Belgian police for a series of thefts and drug-related offences, Abrini is suspected of helping to plan the Paris attacks.

He is known to have travelled abroad several times last year. In June, he flew to Istanbul, from where investigators believe he may have travelled to Syria for a brief period.

Abrini travelled by car with Salah Abdeslam and his brother Brahim on November 10 and 11 when the trio made two round-trips between Brussels and Paris to rent hideouts for the attackers.

– Logistics man awaiting extradition –

Salah Abdeslam, 26, a Belgian-born French national, fled across the border to Belgium hours after the Paris killings and found refuge in Brussels despite a massive manhunt.

He and his brother Brahim, who blew himself up in Paris, had run a bar together in Molenbeek that was shut down by the authorities just weeks before the massacre.

Friends and locals had said they were fond of drink and a joint and that there was no sign they were radical Islamists with murderous intent.

Abdeslam was eventually captured on March 18 in the Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, around the corner from his family home, following a four-month manhunt.

He has told investigators he planned to blow himself up outside the Stade de France on November 13, but changed his mind, and is currently being held in a prison awaiting extradition to France.

– Brussels bomber –

Another fugitive from the Paris assault, Naijm Laachraoui, went on to become one of the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the attack on Brussels airport on March 22.

He had previously used false papers in the name of Soufiane Kayal at the border between Austria and Hungary on September 9 when he was travelling with Abdeslam.

– More held in Belgium –

– Mohammed Amri, 27, and Hamza Attou, 21, brought Abdeslam back to Belgium several hours after the Paris attacks.

– Lazez Abraimi, a 39-year-old Moroccan living in the Brussels region, was arrested after traces of blood and two handguns were found in his car.

– Ali Oulkadi, a 31-year-old French national, drove Abdeslam through Brussels the day after the attacks and dropped him off at a safe house used as a workshop for manufacturing of explosive belts.

– Abdeilah Chouaa, 30: His name was discovered in the prison cell of a man detained in the southern Belgian city of Namur whom Abdeslam phoned on the evening of November 13.

– Mohamed Bakkali: A BMW car that he hired was seen in the immediate proximity of three safe houses in which the Paris attacks were prepared.

– Samir Z: A French national born in 1995 was arrested in late November at Brussels airport when he was on the point of leaving for Morocco. He was freed in February.

– Pierre N: A Belgian born in 1987, close to Paris suicide bomber Bilal Hadfi. He was remanded in custody until late December.

– Abdoullah C: Born in 1985, of Belgian nationality, had on several occasions talked by telephone with Hasna Aitboulahcen, the cousin of suspected Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud who was killed along with him during a police raid outside Paris five days after the rampage.

– Ayoub Bazarouj: a 22-year-old Belgian living in Molenbeek where investigators mistakenly thought they had tracked down Abdeslam three days after the attacks. He was freed on January 22.

– Zakaria J: Born in 1986 and of Belgian nationality. Reportedly a friend of Abaaoud.

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