Brussels bomber once worked as cleaner in EU Parliament
About seven years ago “one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks worked for a period of one month for a cleaning company which was contracted by the European Parliament at the time,” the EU statement said, without revealing the person’s name.
As a student he had taken the summer cleaning job in 2009, and for another month the year after, the brief statement added.
Meanwhile, the BBC cited unidentified sources as saying that the man in question is Najim Laachraoui, one of the airport bombers who was on the run since the November 13 Paris attacks.
The 24-year-old was arrested after the Brussels attacks in the Belgian commune of Anderlecht by security forces.
He is a Belgian citizen who was born in May 1991, and is reported to be a native of the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek.
According to the EU statement, the Brussels attacker had presented proof of a clean criminal record when he was engaged as a cleaner.
“As required by the contract, the cleaning firm submitted proof of the absence of a criminal record to the European Parliament," the statement said.
Authorities across Europe – and especially Belgium -- have been on alert for possible targets that may have been studied by the attackers, including official buildings and nuclear installations.
Brussels went into lockdown after the airport and metro bombings -- which were claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group -- as police cracked down with raids and arrests on jihadi suspects.
Investigators have linked the suicide bombings in Brussels to the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
from Rudaw http://ift.tt/1SCbG45
via Defense News