A man arrested in Belgium is believed to be the 'man in the hat' who escaped after the Brussels airport bombings, says a French official.
Mohamed Abrini, who was one of Europe's most wanted men, was the last suspect still at large following the Paris terror attacks.
His arrest came as Belgian authorities held several people I connection with last month's Brussels suicide bombings at Zaventem airport and metro station which killed 32 people. The 'man in the hat' was pictured alongside two bombers at the airport shortly before they blew themselves up.
If confirmed it was Abrini, it would mean he played a key role in both attacks carried out by an Islamic State cell.
The 30-year-old suspect, who is a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was reportedly arrested in the Anderlecht district of Brussels. The area was home to several other suspects linked to both attacks.
His detention comes a day after authorities released new CCTV video footageof the 'man in the hat', appealing for the public to help find him.Abrini's DNA was believed to have been found in a flat in the Schaarbeek area of the city where airport bombers Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui left from before they detonated their explosives.
A suspect who was detained with Abrini is Osama Krayem, it is thought.He was apparently filmed on CCTV at a shopping centre buying the suitcases that were used in the airport blasts.Abrini was a key suspect wanted in connection with the Paris attacks on 13 November.Europol said he was filmed two days before the atrocities at a petrol station with another suspect Salah Abdeslam in Ressons, northern France, on theroad to the French capital.Europe's law enforcement agency said Abrini was driving a Renault Clio which was used in the Paris massacre.He later disappeared and was described by Europol as armed and dangerous.Abdeslam was detained last month in the Molenbeek district of Brussels a few days before the airport attacks.His lawyer said he intended to blow himself up in Paris but backed out at the last minute, fleeing instead back to Brussels.He was arrested in Brussels on 18 March following a four-monthmanhunt and is being held in a high-security prison in Bruges while awaiting his extradition to France
. More details later... SkyNews
