Turkish police arrest suspected Isis scout in Paris attacks

According to the private Doğan news agency, 26-year-old Ahmet Dahmani, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin who is suspected of having examined the Paris sites where the ISIL attacks took place, was captured in a police raid in the Manavgat district of Antalya on Friday where he was staying at a five-star hotel.

It is also claimed that two other men, both Syrian, were arrested nearby on suspicion of being sent my ISIS to ensure the man was able to cross the border safely.

In an emailed message to AP, the Turkish official who had to speak on the condition of anonymity said, “We believe that Dahmani was in contact with the terrorists who perpetrated the Paris attacks”.

A Belgium-Moroccan national suspected of being a “scout” for the Paris attacks has been arrested in Turkey along with two other men, reportedly from Syria.

If people take the alert seriously, Brussels will be “shut down” Saturday, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said.

The Belgian, Ahmet Dahmani, was arrested at a luxury hotel in the southern coastal city of Antalya. “The investigation continues”, a Turkish government official told Reuters.

The increase in the alert level for Brussels comes as authorities investigating last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris conduct raids in Belgium. The Belgian extremist suspected of masterminding the deadly attacks in Pari…

The security forces arrested him because they believed he was an Islamic State militant preparing to illegally cross the Turkish-Syrian border, the official said. Since 2013, more than 4,700 suspects have been questioned, about 1,300 denied entry and 500 foreign nationals deported, said a senior Turkish official.

Meanwhile Brussels was put on its highest alert level on Saturday as Belgian officials warned the public to avoid crowds because of a “serious and imminent” threat of an attack.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the heightened security measures were “based on quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris… where several individuals with arms and explosives launch actions, perhaps even in several places at the same time”.

The brother of one of the suicide bombers, who was also living in Brussels, is still on the run.