Friday was a busy day for Belgian law enforcement with multiple operations resulting in the arrest of the last remaining publically-revealed fugitive from the Paris attacks, Mohamed Abrini. In addition, a recently revealed suspect, Osama Krayem (sometimes seen as Oussama Kraiem), known until now as Naim al-Hamed, was also captured. In all, six individuals were arrested, the others being Hervé B.M., Bilal El Makhoukhi, and two possibly unrelated individuals named Assia B. and Chaouki A. The last two may have been swept up inadvertently for being close to the operations and acting in a manner suspicious to police. Politico early on named another individual as Abu Amrid, but nothing further was ever reported on that, and I would take it with a grain of salt as this topic is not their bread-and-butter.
Belgian authorities were reluctant at first to name Abrini as the “Man in the White Hat” seen in the Zaventem airport video with Laachraoui and El Bakraoui, despite the fact that shortly after the attack his name had been bandied about as the real identity. However, given the prior embarrassment of having arrested a man and prematurely charged him with being the subject in the video, their reluctance is understandable. They are now fairly certain that Abrini is their man, and he has apparently admitted as much during their questioning. While we do not know what the various elements are for this positive identification, some experts are not so sure, based on the information we’ve received thus far. Pieter Van Ostaeyen, an expert on jihadism and on the Belgian scene especially, says it is a gut feeling, but he does not believe Abrini is the man in the video. To the contrary, he believes that Abrini is protecting elements of the network still at large. Be that as it may, let’s dig into who Abrini is, because, despite the ubiquity of his face in news broadcasts and over the internet, not that much has been written about him. Then in a subsequent article we’ll tackle Krayem and El Makhoukhi with some parting thoughts to wrap up.
Mohamed Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was born on December 27, 1984. He comes from a family of 8—three brothers (Souleymane, possibly Amar, and one unnamed) and two sisters (Ikram and one unnamed). He was friends with the Abdeslams since childhood, having lived next door to them. He gave up training as a welder when he was 18, shortly after the first of his many run-ins with the law. From age 17 he has 18 offenses for a range of activities from drug possession, to threats, to transporting weapons. He has been described by another individual who provided transport to Abdeslam after the Paris attacks, Ali Oulkadi, as someone who loved money—a thief—not at all interested in religion.
Apparently he was able to put together enough money from his activities to become a part owner of a company known as Tamimi SPRL at rue Ransfort 3—currently the site of the Snack Chez Taspi restaurant and previously the site of another restaurant, Délinice. While Abrini did have the nickname “Brioche” from his time working at a bakery, I can’t find any evidence that Tamimi SPRL itself was this sort of business, as has been commonly reported of late. On the contrary, a number of sites refer to a company with this name at that address as a hair salon, with the manager Oussama Achmal. Thinking back to the flurry of raids following the attacks in Brussels, the raid at rue du Busselenberg 64 in the Brussels district of Anderlecht netted an Oussama A. Could this be Oussama Achmal? Unfortunately, nothing further has been released regarding that matter.
The story surrounding Tamimi SPRL is a convoluted one. Filings I found, reported on in the Belgian media back in late November, show that the company was started in 2004 by Mohamed and Zakaria Tamimi, two hairstylists. In 2012, Mohamed Tamimi turned over total control to Oussama Achmal of 105 Rue Edmond Tollenaere (Laeken). Just over half a year later Achmal turns over 100% of the shares to Rachid Miyouf in March 2013. Miyouf brings in Abrini (of address rue Comte de Flandre 16—associated with Amar) in September 2013 and grants him 25% of the business. By the end of December 2014 (the document says 2013 for Abrini, but I believe this is a typo), Abrini and Miyouf turn over all their shares to Mustapha Chaibi. Chaibi transfers the business itself to Chaussée de Mons 1139 in Anderlecht. I have not been able to discover the story of the relationship between Abrini, Miyouf, and Chaibi.
However, Chaussée de Mons 1139 in Anderlecht shows no signs of the Tamimi business. The address is the site of a well-established laundry business Was Salon Lavoir. But Tamimi is not the only business finding a home here. Another known as K.K. Enterprise SPRL, managed by Rashid Nazir moved its operations to this location in 2009. Using the same address and telephone number as K.K. Enterprise SPRL is Centre d’Entreprises et d’Associ Asbl. Another two companies have listed themselves at this address: Trans Euroniko and Guidon Ancienne Roue. Looking at the building, it is possible that these businesses operate out of the rooms above the laundry, but it is also possible that these filings are just listing fictitious addresses for their activities. Such a technique was used by the Abdeslam brothers with respect to their café when they relocated its headquarters to a warehouse in Quiévrain on the border of France and Belgium. The Tamimi business, whatever it was, was ultimately declared bankrupt by the Belgian authorities in July 2015.
While Abrini was engaged with Tamimi SPRL, his brother Souleymane flew to Istanbul in January 2014 and made his way to Syria, where he fought with an Islamic State unit, and was killed in Syria in August 2014. 2015 then became a year of travel for Abrini. He supposedly traveled to Istanbul for a brief period leading to speculation that he crossed over into Syria during the trip. In the summer he traveled to the UK, spending time in Birmingham, Manchester, and London where CCTV reveals that he visited several public venues. This has led to speculation that he was investigating targets following his presumed trip to Syria. He also met with about 10 individuals in the Birmingham area during the trip. He was arrested upon his return to Brussels and Belgian authorities passed the images found on his phone to the British. He made further trips to Germany and Morocco before the events of November 13.
Abrini managed to stay out of sight for over 4 months following his outing in the media in November. His family insists that he was in Brussels the night of the Paris attacks, and that is so according to multiple witnesses. He apparently signed for an apartment in Jette with his fiancée, Nawal, that very evening. But he is not without guilt, as his mother Mimouna and sister Ikram would like us to believe. This is yet another family in Belgium with multiple members involved in the insanity of the Islamic State, and one begins to wonder how the members of the family could be so blind to what is happening inside the heads of their loved ones, if the picture painted in the press represents reality.
Next, Osama Krayem and Bilal El Makhoukhi…
Hindsight is 20/20 