Trial of the November 13 attacks: trip to Schiphol
View of the interior of the Paris Assize Court, September 8, 2021, on the occasion of the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 (illustration image).
AP - Michel Euler
Text by: Nathanaël Vittrant
2 mins
The trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015 is continuing before the Special Assize Court of Paris, which is now looking into the very last weeks preceding the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis and the final preparations of the cell.
This Wednesday, Belgian investigators presented the data found on a laptop abandoned by the terrorists.
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From our special envoy to the Special Court of Assizes of Paris
,
It is an essential piece of the file, and it very nearly never reached the investigators.
On March 22, 2016, the noose tightened on the terrorist cell and four days earlier
Salah Abdeslam
was arrested.
In the early morning, Mohamed Abrini, Najim Lachraoui and Ibrahim Bakraoui leave the apartment where they are holed up, heading for Zaventem airport.
They bring suitcases stuffed with explosives, but leave a garbage bag in the street.
The garbage collectors then discover two computers.
The first out of order goes to the dumpster, but they appropriate the second.
It is only by discovering the jihadist propaganda therein that they understand that their find may have a link with the terrorist attack which hits Brussels a few hours later.
A “targets” folder
The computer is encrypted, most of the files which may be of interest to the investigators are deleted or inaccessible, but they still manage to reconstruct at least the names of the files consulted.
A "
mutafajirat
" file, "
explosive
" in Arabic.
Another file entitled “
targets
” where the terrorists list potential targets: “
Catholic youth, royalist, punk, common people, education, aristocracy, bourgeoisie.
»
On November 7, just six days before the attacks, their fatal project took shape.
A “November 13” folder appears.
“
French
group ”, “
Iraqi group
”, “
Omar group
”: three days later, the commandos are formalized.
"
Maybe Schiphol has become Zaventem
"
Two other files intrigue the investigators: a “
metro group
” and a “
Schiphol group
”.
It is the international airport of Amsterdam where two jihadists who returned from Syria went on November 13: Osama Krayem and Sofien Ayari.
The two men now chose not to speak during this trial, but during the investigation they explained that they had gone to scout and they swore that the suitcases taken that day did not contain weapons or explosives.
And the investigator to wonder with the Court: the Paris metro was not hit on November 13, but the Brussels metro was on March 22.
So “
maybe Schiphol has become Zaventem
”.
►
To read also: Trial of November 13: "I know that if he is there, it is not for tourism"
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France
Terrorism
Trial of the attacks of November 13
Justice