Secret service files complaint

The Belgian intelligence service is filing a complaint with the judicial authorities following the leak of confidential information about one of its informers.

The Belgian secret service has its nose out of joint after the media reported that the terrorist suspect Abdelkader Belliraj was one of its paid informants.

Belliraj was arrested in Morocco and is suspected of heading a terrorist outfit linked to al-Qaeda.

The Belgian of Moroccan extraction also stands accused of six murders in Belgium.

The Belgian intelligence service feels that the leak about Belliraj’s informant status has discredited the entire working of the service.

After the news broke questions were asked in Parliament and Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen (Flemish Christian democrat) announced fresh reforms of the intelligence service.

The head of the secret service now intends to file a complaint with the judicial authorities tomorrow.

The complaint is against "persons unknown".

Any investigation should centre on identifying who or which organisation was responsible for leaking the information.

There is speculation that the leak may have been orchestrated by the intelligence service’s rival: the police.

Belliraj seems to have been recruited eight years ago – around the time he was granted Belgian citizenship.

It remains unclear whether the security service was aware of his alleged terrorist activities and whether or not he received protection.

AFP