BRUSSELS — Much about Abdelhamid Abaaoud’s path to armed Islamic radicalism remains mysterious.
In the words of Koen Geens, the Belgian justice minister, he mutated from a student at an upscale Brussels school into “an extremely professional commando,” one seemingly able to slip across borders at will. Someone who openly mocked the inability of Western law enforcement agencies to catch him.
The wanted jihadi’s own father believes prison — where he served time for petty crimes — changed him for the worse. After his son got out, Omar Abaaoud noticed “signs of radicalization,” the elder Abaaoud’s lawyer, Nathalie Gallant, told RTBF broadcasting Wednesday.
If so, that would fit the pattern of a number of jihadis who were radicalized in prison.
A person in Belgium familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Abaaoud became “close” while living in the Molenbeek neighborhood to another immigrant’s son who had his own troubles with the law, Brahim Abdeslam. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
On Friday, Abdeslam was one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up in the murderous wave that shook Paris. Abdeslam’s brother Salah, who authorities say also was an acquaintance of Abaaoud, is being sought as a suspected accomplice.
Abaaoud came onto the international radar as a radical Muslim combatant for the first time in February 2014, said Jasmine Opperman, a senior director with the independent Terrorism Research &Analysis Consortium (TRAC).
Western recruits had flocked to Syria from Europe and elsewhere to battle the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and fighters from Belgium and other French-speaking countries were coordinating assaults north of Aleppo.
During the campaign, Abaaoud was filmed at the wheel of a pickup truck dragging a load of mutilated corpses following a mass execution committed by Islamic State at a place called Hraytan.
Abaaoud, by then using a nom de guerre, Abou Omar Soussi, wore the same kind of hat as many Afghan mujahedeen, and joked and appeared happy.
“His father was very much against him going there,” the Belgian source told AP. But there was much worse news for the family.
Also in 2014, Abaaoud persuaded younger brother Younes, then 13, to join him in the territory under control of Islamic State. Though Belgium has produced more radical Islamic fighters relative to its total population than any other European country, the departure of the boy — dubbed “Syria’s youngest jihadi” — made national headlines. It also made Abaaoud a household name here.