Brussels terror attacks: Dirty bomb fears as ‘man in hat’ charged

Would-be Brussels airport bomber Faycal Cheffou claims to be a journalist, but little of his work has been published.

Faycal Cheffou, one of the main suspects of the Brussels attacks, in a video posted toYouTube in 2014.

Europe’s most wanted terrorist, the “man in the hat” caught on CCTV footage just before the bomb blasts at Brussels’ Zaventem airport, has been named as Faycal Cheffou, an activist who claimed to be a journalist.

Belgian police charged Cheffou — known for attempts to radicalise homeless people and asylum-seekers — with “involvement in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder”.

Two other suspects detained on Thursday — identified as Raba N and Aboubakar A — were charged late on Saturday (AEDT) with ­“involvement in the activities of a terrorist group”.

Yesterday, Belgian police cancelled a commemoration for the Brussels victims, citing concerns they were too overwhelmed by the terror hunt.

The terror charges came amid mounting fears of a Belgian militant cell activating a dirty bomb. It emerged that a nuclear facility guard was shot dead two days after the Brussels bombings.

Didier Prospero, a guard with the G4S security company, and his dog were killed in the bathroom of his Brussels home just hours after Belgian authorities stripped secu­rity passes from some workers at two nuclear plants last week.

Two of the Brussels bombers, brothers Ibrahim and Khalid Bakraoui, had filmed the movements of a Belgian nuclear scientist, authorities believing he could have been a kidnap target.

It emerged the nuclear reactor Doel 4 was sabotaged with 65,000 litres of oil in 2014, but deadly overheating was prevented.

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether it could have been part of a terror plot.

Cheffou’s background came to light soon after police announced he was the man in the hat, white coat and glasses caught on CCTV footage walking alongside the two airport bombers Najim Laachroui and Ibrahim Bakraoui.

Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur pursued an injunction against him several months ago to stop his ­radical recruitment efforts.

Reports said Cheffou’s brother Karim died in 2002 in a police raid and that Faycal had been jailed for receiving stolen goods.

Cheffou had claimed to be a journalist, but little was published.

In a YouTube video uploaded in 2014 to a site called The ­Oppressed, he reported on an ­asylum-seeker protest in a detention centre in Steenokkerzeel in Belgium. In the video, he claimed Muslims fasting for Ramadan could not eat because meal times at the centre finished at 10pm.

As the Brussels investigation continues, a total of nine people have been arrested in Belgium, with two in Germany and one in Italy. Jamal Eddine Ouali, 40, a suspected counterfeiter was ­arrested in Bellizzi in Italy.

He allegedly created false identities for Laachroui, Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Belkaid, another suspect linked to the November 13 French onslaught. A man named as Abderamane A, taken into custody on Friday after he was shot by police at a Brussels tram stop, was being held for a ­further 24 hours.

Brussels prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch said the death toll from last Tuesday’s attacks was likely to rise from 31. Twenty-four of the victims have been identified. About 270 were wounded, with 15 in the serious burns unit at a Brussels military hospital.