Belgian police conduct 7 raids tied to Paris attacker, arrest 1 person
On Thursday, Belgian police conducted seven raids in and near Brussels, most of them in connection with Bilal Hadfi, one of the Islamic State–linked attackers who died in a suicide bombing in Paris last Friday. Six of the raids were part of an investigation of Hadfi that had begun before the Nov. 13 attacks, said Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt, but the seventh was tied directly to the Paris terrorism. Police detained and are questioning one person in that last raid, in the northwest suburb of Laeken, Van der Sypt said, but he didn't expect any arrests from the other six raids. "Bilal Hadfi was involved in the Paris attacks," the prosecutor explained. "We are hoping to find useful information."
Also on Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel asked Belgium's parliament to double the national anti-terrorism budget, to about $427 million, and approve a package of sweeping security measures. Those measures include increasing the amount of time police can detain terrorism suspects, shutting down mosques and websites that are deemed to promote hate speech, extending anti-terrorism laws to weapons trafficking and other crimes, arresting Belgians who traveled to fight with ISIS, and electronically monitoring people deemed at risk of going to join ISIS and stripping them of citizenship.
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