French Police Detain 7 for Questioning in Paris Siege
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – French police took seven people in for questioning Sunday in connection with the deadly siege that killed at least 129 people on Friday night, expanding an international dragnet and investigation that now stretches from the Aegean Sea to the teeming Paris suburbs.
The seven people taken into custody were relatives of Omar Ismail Mostefai, a 29-year old French national with a criminal record and one of seven assailants who died during Friday night’s deadly siege, according to a French police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, The Washington Post reported.
“The aim is to figure out what led this man to become a suicide bomber,” the French police official said.
Mostefai’s brother, who surrendered for questioning in a southeastern suburb of Paris, confirmed to the Agence France-Presse news service that his younger sibling had committed small crimes in the past. The 34-year-old man, who was not identified, said he had broken off all ties with him years ago. Mostefai had moved back to Algeria with his young daughter, he added. He said he was shocked to learn that his brother was involved in the attacks.
Police also raided the homes of Mostefai’s father and of the brother, which were searched during three hours Saturday night by French SWAT teams in Romilly-sur-Seine, a town 79 miles east of Paris, and in Bondoufle, a small suburb in the south of Paris, according to RTL radio.
The official said another one of the assailants had a Syrian passport, a document that Greek officials have said he used to enter Europe in October on the Aegean island of Leros along with a record flood of refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East. Sky News later quoted a Greek official as saying the passport was “fake”.
French police seized one of the vehicles believed to have been used in the Friday night attacks, a black SEAT Leon with handguns inside, in the eastern suburb of Montreuil.
At least two of the seven dead attackers are believed to be Belgians, including an 18-year-old who had fought in Syria, according to a senior Belgian official.
As of late Saturday, at least 10 suspects were arrested in Belgium.
Three of the 10 were stopped by French police late Friday near the town of Cambrai while attempting to flee into Belgium. The French police had let them pass, but the men were later arrested in Brussels after Belgian authorities raised red flags.