6 missed opportunities to stop terrorist brothers still on time

Turkish President Erdogan showed Wednesday that he delicately Belgium mid 2015 warned of the intercepted Syriëstrijder he sent back on a silver platter. Yet criminal El Bakraoui could abscond. The numerous signals to locate brother Khalid (26), the suicide bomber of Maalbeek, were not seized by the court.

The Belgian security forces and our judicial system failed in the past weeks and months? Do they blundered in the hunt for the suicide bombers of Zaventem Maalbeek that Wednesday were officially identified as Najim Laachraoui (24) and the brothers Ibrahim (29) and Khalid El Bakraoui (26)? Wednesday already showed that our country has untapped opportunities especially in the hunt for the brothers, known in Brussels for years as gangsters and good for several armed robberies and thefts.

Erdogan: Belgium warned

The cross to come to the painful conclusion was not here, but given in Turkey. Still by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, never averse to controversy. Erdogan said that the suicide bomber Zaventem, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, was arrested in June 2015 in Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. The tenor of his words, the oldest El Bakraoui was told that he was and had put on a plane out of the country - important - the Belgian authorities were informed thereof.

In government circles remained surprisingly vague about it: "We do not know exactly how it is with that information." According to Justice Minister Koen Geens (CD & V) El Bakraoui was flown to Amsterdam. What happened to him? No one, no government source or security source, who could say with certainty. Probably he was, as in theory should not put on a plane to our country and arrested again.

Too late transmitted

However had a new arrest According to our information should happen, since "Syriëstrijder" El Bakraoui manifesto had violated its conditions for continued parole. He received 10 years in prison in the spring of 2010 and was released conditionally on October 23, 2014. The oldest El Bakraoui must have a fixed address, was allowed no contact with co-offenders and was not more than 30 days stay abroad.

After May 2015 he made monthly visits to the judicial assistant for what it was and headed for Syria. At that time the criminal in Laeken had found a new calling: he had become a jihadist. Moreover, he could disappear smoothly as a national seining two months failed to materialize.

Underestimate brother role

However, sources say, there are more missed opportunities still stop in time radicalized brothers. As recently leaked that Khalid El Bakraoui, already known for heavy acts of banditry, twice a safe house rented for the terrorist cell which Brussels and Zaventem behind Paris. He did so in Charleroi (like Paris) and Frost (after Paris), although twice under a false name. Yet the security forces were not completely off the alarm bells and the threat level was not raised.

The past 48 hours seeped messages as more foreign services could "have repeatedly warned" our country. Whether this information is true, fell last night untraceable. As American intelligence officers said on news website The Daily Beast: "We can not do everything for them. If we talk to them, it is as if we - I say it bluntly - talking to small children. The Belgians are not proactive, they have no idea what's going on. "

Yesterday also said the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Western intelligence agencies, including the Belgian, "accurate information" had been given about imminent attacks against the airport and probably against the subway.

Finally, there was a police officer Schaerbeek. That was despite several reports from local residents about suspicious behavior at the house of the terrorists, not exactly shown due diligence in recent days. Later it appeared that there were just made nail bombs.

www.nieuwsblad.be  /By: Peter Huyberechts, Jesse Rain Mortar and Hannes CattebekeFoto: Telegraph