2023-04-25 18:21:00
It was, perhaps, a missed opportunity to discover the cache in rue Max Roos in Schaerbeek where the terrorists made the explosive that they will use in Zaventem and Maelbeek on March 22, 2016.
On March 14, 2016, the owner of the building paid an impromptu visit to this hideout because he had been alerted by the occupants of the apartment located on the floor below, who complained of water infiltration from the ceiling. The terrorists finally reassured him and he left.
This owner was heard as a witness on Tuesday before the Assize Court. This entrepreneur had bought the building, with 10 apartments spread over five identical levels in January 2016. “It was a fairly old building that needed to be renovated,” he explained, indicating that for him, who loan, it was a question of working quickly to rent the apartments very quickly.
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So there were many visits. The apartment – with a bedroom on the 5th and top floor – was rented to a man posing as Miguel Dos Santos. It was actually Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in Zaventem. His candidate tenant presented him with a payslip showing that he worked for a transport firm, with a decent salary. He indicated that he would occupy the apartment alone. The only requirement of this tenant: once he returns, there is no longer any question for the owner to come and do any work, even finishing.
The owner trusted him, especially since, like him, he had a Portuguese-sounding name. Ibrahim El Bakraoui will say that it is because his mother was Portuguese. “I saw him two or three times. His profile was correct, level of dress, speaking or professional situation.
An unfortunate leak
On March 14, 2016, the owner was alerted by telephone in the early evening by the occupant of the ground floor, who is his right-hand man in the building. The latter sent him a complaint from the occupants of the 4th floor, alleging water infiltration. The owner then tried to reach the supposed Dos Santos, who however did not answer. He therefore went there. “We knock, we knock, we knock: no answer”. It lasted a few minutes.
He took the key out of his pocket. “I slip the key in the lock and I hear a noise inside,” he told the court. We opened it to him. After explaining the reason for his visit, he was made to wait “between 15 and 30 seconds” before being granted access to the apartment.
The owner checked the kitchen and bathroom, the two rooms where there was a water supply. “It lasted between one and two minutes.” He didn’t notice anything. One of the occupants told him that water had spilled on the floor and that this must be the origin of the infiltration at the neighbor downstairs.
He saw neither the living room – where an Islamic State flag hung – nor the bedroom – where the already manufactured TATP and precursor products were stored. The door to both rooms was closed, otherwise, the owner explained, he would have taken a look and, who knows, maybe discovered the “pot of roses”.
The next day, the terrorists will be pushed around once more. The police invaded the hideout on rue du Dries in Forest, from where Salah Abdeslam and Sofien Ayari managed to escape.
The origin of the leak will be known following the attacks. Abrini explained that during the making of the TATP, there was an accident. The mixture caught fire. It had to be turned off. Krayem – who denies it – and El Bakraoui were burned in the face.
Today, the owner still has cold sweats when he thinks of what would have happened if he had entered the initiative with his double. “I don’t know what my life would be like today, if I would still be here.”
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