Upon searching the suspect’s apartment in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said that police found 500 grams of the explosive acetone peroxide (TATP), 1.3 kilograms of industrial explosives, a number of bottles of oxygenated water and acetone, supplies to construct detonators, five automatic rifles, seven mobile phones, stolen passports, and computers with links to terror groups.
It is unclear whether Kriket is associated with Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris and Brussels, but prosecutors allege he was involved with a group planning at least one major attack.
The suspect is believed to have traveled to Syria within the past two years and has made several trips between Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.
Molins said that Kriket has not cooperated with authorities and an intended target has not been identified.
At least three other suspects are also in custody in relation to the case. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that two Algerians, Abderrahmane A. and Rabah M., will face a hearing next month over their suspected role in Kriket’s plot.
Anis Bari, another Frenchman linked to Kriket, is being held in Rotterdam, Molins said.
This isn’t the first time Kriket has been charged. Last July, he and Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud were convicted in absentia in the trial of Khaled Zerkani. Belgian prosecutors described Zerkani as "the most significant recruiter of jihadi candidates in Belgium."
Also convicted in that trial was Najim Laachraoui, the bombmaker behind the November 2015 Paris attacks and a suicide bomber in this month’s attack at the Brussels airport.
