Fingerprint of Paris terror suspect found in Brussels

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said that traces of the explosive TATP and three handmade belts that might be used to transport explosives were found in the raid on December 10 in Rue Berge.

Belgian police have found three belts for possible use in suicide attacks, traces of explosives and a fingerprint of wanted Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam at a Brussels flat, prosecutors said Friday.

The apartment was rented in a false name, the statement said, and may have been used by a person already in police custody.

Searchers were initially carried out at the third-floor apartment in Schaerbeek on 10 December and analysis has now revealed traces of bomb-making materials.

It may have been one of the key components in the suicide vests that the Paris attackers wore at the Stade de France, Bataclan and bars and restaurants, where they sprayed diners with bullets before blowing themselves up.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said Friday the same residence was likely used as a hideout after the November 13 attacks by fugitive suspect Salah Abdeslam.

“We found the fingerprint but we have no idea when it was left – a fingerprint has no date or time on it”, Van Der Sypt told AFP. However, that search didn’t find Abdeslam as police later admitted no one knows where he could be.

The investigators of the Paris attacks that took place on November 13 have found a lead in solving the case. Seven died during the assault but the total number of those directly involved is still unclear.

Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the suicide bombers, returned to Brussels from Paris the morning after the attacks and has still not been found.

Paris was again jolted on Thursday when a man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher’s knife ran up to a police station and was shot to death by officers standing guard.

The man who was renting the Brussels flat remains in police custody.