BREAKING NEWS: Fugitive 'blood brother' 'is arrested in Belgium after fleeing building with his hands in air as police fired tear gas'
Dozens of heavily-armed police (pictured) raided a flat in Molenbeek, Brussels, today as they hunted for Salah Abdeslam, 26 (inset) - one of three 'blood brothers' believed to be at the heart of French massacres where 129 people died on Friday. It appears the terror suspect, believed to be a getaway driver and potential shooter, went into hiding in Molenbeek, known as a 'cradle of terrorism' and where the eight-strong ISIS terror cell may have met before the Paris raids to gather automatic weapons and suicide vests.
Huge numbers of armed police and special forces in balaclavas and carrying machine guns surrounded a top floor flat in the area this morning. An armed officer was then seen climbing down from the roof with one witness saying he dropped tear gas through a Velux window to flush out a suspect who came out on to a balcony with his arms up. Belgian media claimed this man was Salah Abdeslam but the authorities have not confirmed this.
BREAKING NEWS: Fugitive 'blood brother' 'is arrested in Belgium after fleeing building with his hands in air as police fired tear gas'
- Police hunting suspect Salah Abdeslam, 26, are believed to have captured Paris suspect in Brussels suburb
- Abdeslam's brother Ibrahim was a suicide bomber while another sibling Mohammed arrested and released
- Anti-terror police held 'getaway driver' Salah on Belgian border in hours after the attack but he was released
- He is from an area of Brussels known as the 'Jihad capital of Europe' and a 'den of terrorists' because of terror links
- Ahmed Almuhamed, 25, believed have joined Bataclan terror squad after sneaking into Europe posed as a migrant
- Homegrown terrorist Omar Ismaël Mostefai, 29, and former ISIS fighter Bilal Hadfi named as suicide bombers
- Suspect called Samy Aminour, 28, believed to have been a Bataclan attacker, identified after a raid on Paris flats
- French attacks have left 129 dead and 352 injured - 96 of which are in a critical condition. 30 dead not yet identified
- See more of the latest news and updates on the terrorist attacks in Paris
Dozens of heavily-armed police and special forces rushed a flat in Molenbeek, Brussels, as they hunted for the 26-year-old - one of three 'blood brothers' believed to be at the heart of French massacres where 129 people died on Friday.
Abdelsam has been the subject of a vast international manhunt but incredibly he was stopped and then released by French police guarding the Belgian border hours after the attacks.
It appears the terror suspect, believed to be a getaway driver and potential shooter, went into hiding in Molenbeek, where the eight-strong ISIS terror cell may have met before the Paris raids to gather automatic weapons and suicide vests.
Huge numbers of armed police and special forces in balaclavas and carrying machine guns surrounded a top floor flat in the area this morning.
Special forces were seen climbing down from the roof with one witness saying he dropped tear gas through a Velux window to flush out a suspect who came out on to a balcony with his arms up.
A hooded man was handcuffed and put in a car by plain-clothes police - the Belgian media claimed this man was Salah Abdeslam but the authorities have not confirmed this.
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Drama: Terror suspect arrested in Belgian suburb of Molenbeek after a raid to find Paris terrorist fugitive Salah Abdeslam - dubbed the world's most wanted man
Flushed out: Special forces climbed across a roof before they fired tear gas (pictured) through a Velux-type window to flush out a suspect who came out on to a balcony with his arms up. Belgian media claimed this man was Salah Abdeslam
Operations: Witnesses said they also heard explosions and sounds like gunfire during the operation to surround the top floor flat in Brussels today. One soldier, left, appeared to be in charge and after the gas was fired in troops used a thermal camera to watch the results
Wanted man: Salah Abdeslam, 26, may have been arrested during an arrest on a Belgian safehouse this morning and is one of three brothers believed to be at the very centre of the Paris terror attacks
The authorities confirmed that the operation was launched to capture Abdeslam but a city spokesman said he was unable to confirm whether the suspect was actually held.
French police questioned Abdeslam in the early hours of Saturday morning on a motorway close to the Belgian border as he returned to Brussels with two other men, just hours after the attack.
Meanwhile, Belgian police have started to clear a large section of Brussels city centre after a suspicious car with French number plates was spotted around the Joseph II street. Bomb squad technicians are preparing to examine the car after a security cordon is established.
As part of the ongoing operation, police have called out over a loudhailer to suspects inside a property in Molenbeek.
Trained negotiators have warned those inside the property to 'leave with their hands up'.
Dramatic video captured on Twitter showed the moment of the raid.
He is one the three 'blood brothers' behind the Paris massacre is still on the run today after police let him go as it emerged a Bataclan suicide bomber was charged with trying to join Al Qaeda in 2012 but was still free to slaughter 89 people.
It came as French police said the mastermind of the Paris attacks is Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of ISIS' top executioners who even took 13-year-old brother to fight in Syria.
Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, 26, from a suburb of Brussels known as the 'jihadi' capital of Europe, is now the subject of a vast international manhunt - but incredibly he was stopped and then released by officers guarding the Belgian border hours after the attacks.
One of his brothers, Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, was one of seven terrorists who died on Friday night after he blew himself up in a solo attack outside cafe Comptoir Voltaire. He had rented a black Seat found yesterday in Paris packed with AK-47s and ammunition.
The third sibling, Mohammed Abdeslam, was in custody in Belgium last night after being arrested in a Brussels and has now been released.
This morning French police identified a Bataclan bomber as homegrown terrorist Samy Amimour, 28, who was known to anti-terror officers in 2012 when he was prosecuted for trying to flee France to join Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen. A year later he slipped out of France to join ISIS in Syria.
French police have said homegrown terrorist Omar Ismaël Mostefai , 29, from Courcouronnes, Paris, was one of the Bataclan suicide bombers where 89 died while Belgian Bilal Hadfi, 20, who had spent time fighting with ISIS in Syria before returning to Europe, detonated his suicide vest at the Stade de France where three died.
Stade de France suicide bomber Ahmed Almuhamed travelled to France as an asylum seeker through Greece after being saved from a sinking ship. Greek ferry tickets reveal he travelled to Europe with another man named as Mohammed Almuhamed.
Heavily-armed officers fired CS gas into an apartment in Molenbeek before storming the building and arresting a suspect
A special forces team fired CS gas into an apartment in Molenbeek, Brussels as part of the ongoing hunt for Salah Abdeslam
Members of the Belgian bomb squad (DOVO) were called to the scene in case there were any improvised explosive devices
Belgian anti-terror police sealed off a large area of Molenbeek this morning, pictured, before launching a raid on a suspected safe house
Eyewitnesses said they heard shots being fired and a possible explosion during the operation in Molenbeek, pictured
Suspect: Belgian Bilal Hadfi, 20, (pictured) who had spent time fighting with ISIS in Syria before returning to Europe and detonating his suicide vest at the Stade de France and French bomber Omar Mostefai, right, killed himself after he attacked the Bataclan concert Hall
Wanted man: Serbian media says this is 25-year-old Ahmed Almuhamed, left and right, whose Syrian passport is pictured, who blew himself up at the Stade de France in Paris, and is believed to have sneaked into France with another terrorist by posing as refugees from Syria
The band had just finished playing a number called Save A Prayer and — having told their raucous Parisian fans they loved them — they were launching into another favourite, Kiss The Devil, when the ISIS gunmen began their massacre. Above, the Bataclan concert hall after the attack
Raids: French anti-terror teams have smashed their way into homes across the country overnight and this has helped them uncover the identity of a fourth attacker, Samy Aminour, 28, as well as more weapons including a rocket launcher
Three days after the France’s ‘9/11’ police and security services were accused last night of a string of appalling blunders over the Paris massacres.
It emerged that:
- Police stopped one of the gunmen hours after the bloodbath but let him go. He is now the world’s most wanted man;
- One suspected suicide bomber came to France from Greece where he had arrived on a raft with 198 Syrian refugees;
- Authorities on the Greek island of Leros admitted that every refugee is given onward travel documents;
- German police failed to tell their French counterparts they had seized a Paris-bound car laden with weapons.
- Bataclan suspect named as Sami Aminour - who is believed to have been known to French police since 2012 after he tried to flee for Yemen
- Iraqi spies warned Western powers of an planned attack using teams of suicide bombers on the day before the Paris massacre
- In August French police arrested a 30-year-old man after he returned from Syria and he told them ISIS wanted to attack a concert venue like the Bataclan
The man let go by police, Salah Abdeslam, is one of three Belgian-based brothers all thought to be part of the Islamic State terror gang. An international arrest warrant is in place and the public have been urged not to approach him.
French police have also launched a series of coordinated anti-terrorism raids across the country this morning and have arrested dozens of people following the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday. Heavily armed tactical units launched dozens of raids in Toulouse, Grenoble, Calais and two Paris suburbs.
They have arrested dozens of suspects and seizing a cache of weapons including a rocket launcher.
Despite the movement on the ground today incredibly, French officials revealed that police had questioned him, checked his ID and then released him hours after the attacks.
The questioning came when police pulled over a Volkswagen Golf car containing three people in Cambrai near the French-Belgian border at 9am on Saturday.
This was hours after authorities had identified Salah Abdeslam as the person who had rented another Volkswagen – a Polo – that was abandoned outside the Bataclan concert hall.
But the occupants of the Golf were allowed to drive on as officials found nothing suspicious, it is understood. Police in Paris first linked the attacks to Belgium when they found a number of parking tickets from the Brussels suburb of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in a VW Polo with Belgian number plates found outside the Bataclan.
Another car – also with Belgian plates – was found abandoned, packed with Kalashnikov assault rifles in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil yesterday, leading to speculation that some of the attackers have escaped. It was used in two of the drive-by shootings at restaurants.
Another of the Belgian bombers, Bilal Hadfi, who is from Neder-over-Heembeek, travelled to Syria earlier this year, after being radicalised by a Belgian imam, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
He was friends on Facebook with another Syrian jihadi from Molenbeek, Abou Isleym, who was recently seen posing on the social networking site with a decapitated corpse.
Bilal wrote on Facebook in July: 'To all my brothers who stay in the country of infidels. The dogs threaten our people everywhere. You are living in a community of pigs. Even in your dreams you should not feel safe.'
It is now thought that the attacks were planned in Belgium by terrorists who communicated with each under the noses of security using Sony’s PlayStation 4.
Belgian federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon has said that the device has been used by Islamic State agents to communicate because it is notoriously hard to monitor, and it is even more difficult to keep track of than the Whats-App mobile phone messaging application.
The gang, which is also believed to include a woman and two men who entered Europe posing as Syrian refugees, are thought to have travelled from Molenbeek to Paris in rented cars.
The suburb, which has a population of 90,000, has a large immigrant population and is one of the most deprived areas of the Belgian capital. It is known by locals as the ‘den of terrorists’ and has been linked to a number of deadly terror attacks in recent years.
Seven people were arrested in 24 hours in Brussels after they were linked to the Paris attacks, including five in Molenbeek. There were further raids in Molenbeek last night.
The first arrest, apparently of Mohammed Abdeslam, happened at around 5pm on Saturday, when plainclothes officers swooped on a man in his 20s outside the Osseghem metro station in Molenbeek.
Dramatic video footage shows the suspect – dressed head to toe in black – wrestling with officers as they try to put him in handcuffs. They eventually managed to detain him by forcing him down into a kneeling position against a wall while another armed police officer trains his weapon on him.
Jules Mukendi, who lives in the street and saw the arrest, said: ‘There were three plainclothes policeman in the street, and an unmarked police car. I think they were waiting for someone. When he appeared, he tried to run into the underground station. They shouted at him and ran after him and pulled him to the floor. They held him on the ground for more than 30 minutes while back-up arrived. He was just a boy, not more than 20 years.’
Then, at around 9pm on Saturday, armed police sealed of all entrances and exits to Place Communale, a large square in front of the town hall in Molenbeek. They swooped on a top floor flat and arrested a man in his 20s.
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attack on Paris was ‘prepared abroad, by a group of individuals based in Belgium who benefited from accomplices in France’.
Arrests: French Police have targeted suspects across France today and arrested people in Toulouse, left, after targeting the city's Mirail district
Incredible footage shows armed officers swarm on at least one man and force him to kneel down as they detain him on a wall as shocked shoppers look on in the St Jans Molenbeek area of Brussels, Belgium, at around 5pm UK time yesterday. It came as Belgian police made seven arrests including five in an district known as a 'den for terrorists'
Link: A car linked to the terror attack is towed during a police raid in Brussels' Molenbeek district last night - an area called the 'Jihadi capital of Europe' - because of the links to a number of historic terror plots
It has emerged that a car rented by Salah Abdeslam was abandoned by the Bataclan Theatre, while a Seat rented by his brother Ibrahim was dumped in Montreull with three AK-47s and some ammunition. Adeslam was questioned as he approached the Belgian border and Sunday morning in a third car which was later abandoned in the Jihadi hotspot of Molenbeek, where he disappeared
PARIS MASSACRE: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE DEADLIEST TERROR ATTACK TO HIT EUROPE IN A DECADE
At least 129 people are dead, and another 352 injured, after three teams of jihadis struck the Stade de France football stadium, a handful of bars and cafes, and then finally the Bataclan concert hall.
FIRST TWO ATTACKS: STADE DE FRANCE
- The attacks began at 8.17pm GMT at the Stade de France where the French football team was hosting Germany in an international friendly.
- The game was being watched by 80,000 spectators, among them was President Francois Hollande who had to be evacuated from the stadium.
- The first explosion, a suicide bombing, was at an entrance to the stadium. A suicide bomber approached the gate with a match ticket when he was frisked by a security guard who turned him away.
- He backed away from the gate and detonated his vest at about 8.20pm GMT near Gate D of the stadium, killing one other person. A passport with the name Ahmed Almuhamed, 25, from Syria, was allegedly found nearby.
- A second suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi, 20, blew himself up near Gate H several minutes later. No one else was reported killed. Hadfi is said to have fought with ISIS in Syria.
THIRD ATTACK: LE PETIT CAMBODGE AND LE CARILLON BAR
- At 8.25pm GMT a separate team of gunmen arrived in a Black Seat and attacked diners at popular Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon bar in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin area of eastern Paris, killing 15.
Timeline of events: Eight bombers carried out the devastating attacks on Friday night, leaving 129 people dead and another 352 injured
FOURTH ATTACK: LA CASA NOSTRA PIZZERIA AND LA BELLE EQUIPE BAR
- The same unit then drove about 500 yards to La Casa Nostra pizzeria and opened fire on diners on the terrace of the restaurant, killing at least five people.
- From there, the militants drove around a mile south-east – apparently past the area of the Bataclan concert venue – to launch another attack, this time on La Belle Equipe bar in Rue de Charonne. At least 19 people died after the terrace was sprayed with bullets at 8.38pm GMT. The attackers then drove off.
FIFTH ATTACK: CAFÉ ‘COMPTOIR VOLTAIRE’
- Five minutes later, Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, set off a suicide vest outside the outside cafe 'Comptoir Voltaire' on the Boulevard Voltaire and close to the Bataclan theatre. He hired a black Seat car used in the attack.
SIXTH ATTACK: BATACLAN MUSIC HALL
- At 8.49pm GMT, the third group (believed to be three men and a woman) armed with AK-47s stormed the Bataclan music hall and began shooting members of the crowd. Survivors claim three blew themselves up and a fourth person was shot dead by police before they could detonate their bomb.
SEVENTH ATTACK: NEAR STADE DE FRANCE
- At around 8.50pm GMT a third blast took place near the Stade de France, this time by a McDonald’s restaurant on the fringes of the stadium. The boom caused terror among spectators who had already been attempting to flee the stadium following the first two explosions. The attacker who detonated his suicide vest was identified as a 20-year-old French man living in Belgium.
Tearful members of the public view flowers and tributes on the pavement near the scene of the concert hall massacre on Friday
AFTERMATH:
- On Saturday morning, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks across Paris, saying 'eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles' conducted a 'blessed attack on... Crusader France'.
- On Saturday afternoon, three people travelling in a grey VW Polo were arrested at the French/Belgian border when police traced the car after it was sighted outside the Bataclan theatre at the time of the attacks.
- One of the Stade de France suspects was found carrying a Syrian passport under the name Ahmed Almuhamed who travelled to France as a migrant through Greece on October 3. Ferry tickets reveal he travelled with another man named as Mohammed Almuhamed.
- However, the French minister of justice Christiane Taubira said on Sunday that the passport under the name Ahmed Almuhamed was a fake.
- Omar Ismaël Mostefai, 29, from Courcouronnes, Paris was also named as a Bataclan suicide bomber. The petty criminal and father-of-one was known to police as a radical and had travelled to Algeria and Syria. He was identified by the fingerprint on a severed digit found after he detonated his suicide belt.
- Mostefai is believed to have been radicalised by a Belgian hate preacher of Moroccan descent claimed to have regularly preached at his mosque in South West France. His father, a brother and other family members have been held and are being questioned.
- The black Seat Leon used by the terrorists who murdered diners outside the Casa Nostra pizza restaurant and the La Belle Équipe cafe was found abandoned 20 minutes away in Montreuil with a cache of weapons inside.
- Seven people were detained in Belgium linked to the atrocities - three at the border and four in Brussels. Five are from the Molenbeek area of Brussels known as a 'den of terrorists'.
- Iraqi spies warned the West of an ISIS suicide bomber threat the day before the Paris atrocities, it was revealed on Sunday, as more details of major intelligence failures began to emerge. The US-led coalition in Syria was apparently told by Iraqi security sources that 24 extremists were involved in the terror operation planned in the ISIS capital Raqqa and it would involve 19 attackers including five others including bombmakers and planners. No detail was given of when or where an attack might take place.
- It has also emerged that Turkey's authorities foiled a plot to stage a 'Jihadi John revenge attack' in Istanbul - involving a high-profile British jihadist - on the same day as the deadly massacre in Paris.
- From as far back as August, France's authorities possessed information that militants were said to be planning attacks on French concert halls after a tip-off was received from a 30-year-old man who was detained on his way back from Syria.
- On Sunday night there were 42 people still said to be in intensive care in hospital following Friday's terrorist attacks.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- French police are still hunting for three gunmen on the run, including Brussels-born Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, and an ISIS bombmaker likely to have made the suicide vests.
- An international arrest warrant has been issued for Abdeslam, 26, who is accused of renting a Volkswagen Polo used by the suicide bombers. He is one of three brothers believed to be at the heart of the eight-strong ISIS cell.
- It emerged on Sunday night that police found Abdeslam near the Belgian border early Saturday but let him go after he showed them his ID card. Officers pulled over the car being driven by Abdelslam on Saturday morning on the A2 motorway between Paris and Brussels. Two other men were also in the Seat car. At the time, officers in Paris knew that Abdeslam had rented the car used by the killers which had been abandoned near the theatre but the information had not been transmitted to those responsible for conducting the border checks.
- His brother Ibrahim, 31, blew himself up in a solo attack outside cafe Comptoir Voltaire after renting a black Seat found abandoned today filled with AK-47s and ammunition. A third sibling, named as Mohamed Abdeslam, has been arrested in the Belgian capital.
- On Sunday evening the French defence ministry announced that the country's warplanes had bombed Islamic State's stronghold in Syria's Raqa, destroying a command post and a training camp, the defence ministry said. Ten fighter jets were involved, dropping 20 bombs.
This is the remains of one of the suicide bomber who targeted 80,000 fans at the Stade de France during a football match on Friday
Tickets: A Greek website has uncovered the terror suspect's ferry tickets to Greece and shows he was travelling with a Mohammed Almuhamed, likely to be a relation
At least two of the terrorists is believed to have left Syria, travelled through Turkey and registered as a refugee on the Greek island of Leros on October 3 before continuing his journey northwards eventually arriving in Paris
Belgium has been identified as Europe’s Islamic State heartland. Per capita it is the European country providing the highest number of citizens to fight with Syrian rebels in recent years. Some 440 Belgians are believed to have travelled to Syria to fight between late 2011 and the end of 2014, according to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
At least 30 are said to have travelled from Molenbeek alone. Last night the Belgian government admitted it had lost control of Molenbeek. Jan Jambon, the interior minister, said: ‘In Molenbeek, the situation is not under control at the moment.’
A prominent, Moroccan-born member of the group behind the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 was from Molenbeek, while one of the Charlie Hebdo terrorists who carried out an attack at a kosher deli in Paris in January acquired weapons in the district.
The Thalys train terrorist, who launched an attack on a high-speed train from Brussels to Paris in August but was overpowered by passengers before he killed anyone, had been living in Molenbeek with his sister in the weeks before he carried out the attack.
David Cameron will today respond to the raised threat by promising extra money for anti-terrorism spies and aviation security. He also revealed that they have foiled seven major plots in Britain in the past six months.
And France last night carried out instant retribution by launching its biggest air strike yet on IS in Syria. The raid by ten fighter jets saw 20 bombs dropped on a command centre, training camp and munitions depot in the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa.
It came as Iraqi intelligence said they warned Western countries of an imminent assault the day before the Paris attacks.
The US-led coalition in Syria was apparently told that 24 extremists were involved in the terror operation planned in the ISIS capital Raqqa and it would involve 19 attackers including five others including bombmakers and planners.
Police on Friday detained five people in Istanbul including a suspected close associate of the notorious Islamic State (IS) group militant known as 'Jihadi John' who Washington believes was likely killed in a recent drone strike in Syria.
As panic continued to grip Paris hundreds of people attending a memorial at the Place de la Republique started running amid reports of gunfire.
Channel 4 news were broadcasting live from the scene as panicked people fled. People trampled through floral tributes in an effort to escape from the scene in what was later described as a false alarm.
But the shocking ease with which its followers were able to travel across Europe has sparked a renewed debate about the European Union’s open borders policy.
The suspected suicide bomber reached Greece after crossing the Aegean from Turkey with 198 migrants on a raft that was rescued when it started to sink. The 25-year-old claimed asylum last month on the tiny island of Leros using a suspected fake passport in the name of Ahmad Almohammad.
He was arrested but later released and given papers that allowed him to travel to Athens and mainland Europe because officials believed he was a genuine refugee.
He was allowed to travel through the Balkans, passing through checkpoints in Serbia and Croatia, before heading for Northern Europe.
Greece identified him after the passport he used was found near the body of one of the gang near the Stade de France attack site.
The French have not confirmed the refugee connection but Greece’s migration minister, Yannis Mouzalas, last night said ‘Almohammad’ was presumed to be a terrorist. Two other bombers were said to be carrying fake Turkish passports.
More than 500 people are landing on a daily basis on Leros, which is just seven miles from Turkey. But officials last night admitted the handing out of travel documents mean ‘everyone’ is able to pass on to Athens regardless of whether they are a genuine refugee.
Greece said the man using the Syrian passport in the name of Almohammad arrived with a boatload of migrants on October 3.
They released a mugshot of the man that was taken as he registered with guards on the quayside, claiming he was a refugee.
Authorities arrested him – as is routine for all arrivals – but the next day he was told he would not be prosecuted and handed papers that allowed him to book a ferry ticket to Athens before continuing his journey through the Balkans. He was stopped in both Serbia and Croatia, but was allowed to continue unimpeded because officials said they had no reason to suspect him.
Panic: Mourners ran fearing for their lives on Place de Republique tonight, left, with some sprinting and falling through flowers and candles left for the dead, right, after someone set off firecrackers that sounded like gunfire
A woman is comforted as she breaks down outside the Carillon cafe and the Petit Cambodge restaurant where victims were gunned down
A wounded man is helped by a passer-by as he lies outside a cafe following the attack, which saw a gunman open fire on the crowd
Survivors began tending to those who had been injured during Friday's atrocity despite the fear of further terrorist attacks
Dead and wounded people lie on the pavement outside the Cafe Bonne Biere in Paris following a series of coordinated attacks on Friday
'Den of terrorists': A police car patrols the Molenbeek district of Brussels today after seven arrests in Belgium linked to the Paris terror attack in the past 24 hours
Raid drama: This is Osseghem metro station in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels where several suspects were arrested yesterday
An armed officer stood guard and kept a look-out as one of the terror suspects was arrested in the St Jans Molenbeek area of Brussels yesterday. The suspect was later taken into police custody where he will be questioned in connection with the horror attacks in France
Border checks were reintroduced at the French/Belgium border last night as the authorities tried to find the remainder of the terror cell
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The Serbians said they found no record of any Interpol warrant in his name, so did not detain him.
The mayor of Leros, Mihalis Kolias, warned: ‘So many people are passing through our island and now we know among them are terrorists. This is a big problem for Europe. We must have more security.’
Each week thousands of refugees land on neighbouring Farmakonisi before they are picked up by the Greek coastguard and taken to the largest town on Leros, Lakki.
Humanitarian aid workers and island officials last night confirmed every arrival was given documents permitting onward travel no matter what their circumstances.
When asked how many of the migrants coming to the island are issued the papers, Mr Kolias said: ‘Everyone.’ He said people believed to be from Syria are given documents allowing them to travel through Greece for six months.
A volunteer in a refugee camp next to the quay in Lakki replied ‘That does not happen’ when asked whether refugees were ever refused papers.
A group of around 40 people claiming to have fled from Afghanistan were last night due to leave for Athens despite not having identification such as passports.
Mr Kolias said there had been a minimum of 500 people coming daily to his island, which has a population of 8,000.
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