Nuclear terrorismParis attacks' mastermind had files on German nuclear waste facility

Published 15 April 2016

Salah Abdeslam, the mastermind of the November 2015 terrorist attacks who is now in custody in Belgium, had in his possession documents about a nuclear research center in Germany. The Juelich nuclear center near the Belgium-Germany border is used for the storage of nuclear waste.

Juelich Nuclear Center near the German-Belgian border // Source: wikipedia.org

Salah Abdeslam, the mastermind of the November 2015 terrorist attacks who is now in custody in Belgium, had in his possession documents about a nuclear research center in Germany, the German RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group reports.

The Juelich nuclear center near the Belgium-Germany border is used for the storage of nuclear waste. The German media group said there was no indication of any danger and that Juelich was in contact with the German security agencies.

RND cited sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are held behind closed doors, who said that Hans-Georg Maaßen, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV), told the committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents.

Maaßen told German lawmakers that printouts of articles from the Internet and photos of the Juelich chairman, Wolfgang Marquardt, had been found in Abdeslam’s apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels.

RND says that several members of the Bundestag and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and that Maaßen had confidentially informed them.

Abdeslam, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, was arrested in Brussels on 18 March.