Belgian officers knew all about Brussels terror assault gunman — however had been unable to cease him – POLITICO

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities had been properly conscious of the gunman who induced terror in Brussels — and but he was nonetheless capable of shoot two folks lifeless.

The attacker — who killed two Swedish soccer followers on Monday night — had been on the authorities’ radar since 2016 over his alleged jihadist ties, Belgian officers admitted Tuesday. 

The nation’s regulation enforcement companies had been notified a number of occasions that the person was doubtlessly harmful. He was additionally residing within the nation illegally and will have been kicked out following the denial of his request for asylum in 2020.

As a substitute, he went on the rampage, managing an evening on the run earlier than being shot lifeless by police on Tuesday morning.

The gunman lived “beneath the waterline” solely to emerge from his hideout to strike in a “cowardly” vogue late Monday, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stated on Tuesday afternoon after a gathering of the nation’s Nationwide Safety Council. 

The story of the Tunisian-born gunman reveals the shortcomings of the system Belgium created after the huge intelligence failures within the lead-up to the phobia assaults that killed a whole lot in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016.

The 45-year-old had no prior convictions however was recognized to Belgian regulation enforcement for a variety of “suspicious actions,” together with suspected human trafficking and threatening the safety of the state, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne informed reporters Tuesday throughout an improvised press convention on the daybreak.

Belgian authorities first received phrase of the shooter in July 2016 from police in one other, unnamed, nation that the person had a “radicalized profile” and thought of going to “a battle zone for the jihad,” Van Quickenborne stated.

But the killer’s title was by no means added to the federal terror watch record, which was created to observe terror-related actions after the 2016 terror assaults on Brussels Airport and a metro station.

Intelligence failure

“The data was verified, nothing else could possibly be executed,” Van Quickenborne added, arguing intelligence companies had been on the time swamped with “dozens of stories a day of that nature” as Belgium — and Europe — went by a “true terror disaster.”

“Though he was recognized to regulation enforcement, there was no concrete indication of his radicalization — that’s why he was not on the OCAD [terrorist] watchlist,” the minister stated.

Earlier this yr, the Tunisian man was arrested and questioned by police after allegedly threatening a resident at an asylum heart who had accused his aggressor of getting been convicted of terrorism in his dwelling nation.

This tipped off the Belgian federal police, who known as a gathering of an anti-terrorism activity drive — additionally created after the 2016 assaults — to research him.

The duty drive was scheduled to satisfy on October 17 — however the gunman struck the night time earlier than.

The shooter’s expulsion order additionally fell between the cracks.

After being denied asylum in October 2020, he was despatched an official letter ordering him to go away Belgium. The letter was despatched to his tackle within the Brussels space of Schaerbeek. 

However, in response to State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor, the letter was by no means handed over as a result of he wasn’t dwelling on the time of supply.

Belgian federal lawmakers will on Wednesday grill the nation’s high ministers on how an unlawful resident being watched from a number of sides might nonetheless perform a terror assault. Particulars of the gunman’s profile are set to spark a fiery debate.

Belgium has lengthy struggled to struggle the picture that its multi-layered political structure — sometimes called an “institutional lasagna” — prevents it from effectively coping with safety threats. 

“We have to put the puzzle collectively: what did the police know?” Tim Vandeput, a lawmaker for Open VLD, the liberal celebration led by Prime Minister De Croo, informed POLITICO forward of the listening to. 

It additionally places the highlight on migration coverage, in a rustic the place a far-right celebration — the anti-immigration Vlaams Belang — tops the polls.

“The return coverage is just too lax, this process needs to be water-tight,” Vandeput added.

Vlaams Belang additionally lashed out that the Tunisian gunman was “left alone” after he was denied asylum.