Belgian police officer leaked info on police raids to jihadists

The Belgian of North African origin, worked as a dispatcher at the Brussels-North police zone.
  
He leaked the info via the WhatsApp messaging service, La Dernière Heure reported. The Brussels court and Comité P, which controls the police, had been investigating Momo E.S. for several weeks. They are now convinced that suspects had secret information about an ongoing terrorist investigation.

It remains unclear how many messages were exchanged.

Momo knew, among other things, where and when police raids would occur. This information gave the terrorist suspects the chance to follow anti-terror police operations live.

For the time being, it also remains unclear how long the crooked agent had had contact with jihadists.

A Brussels judge issued a warrant for Momo’s arrest on Monday at his place of work for breach of professional secrecy and corruption.

He has not been charged with a terrorist offense yet. After appearing in court to hear the charges against him, he was taken to the prison of St. Gillis.

At the end of this week or at the end of Monday, the man will appear before the Brussels Council, which must decide whether Momo’s detention will be extended.

Meanwhile the controversial exhibition promoting Islam in Europe as an historical fact, has opened in Brussels after a delay caused by the jihadist attacks that took 32 lives in the Belgian capital last year.

Entitled “Islam. It’s Also Our History” and curated by the Museum of Europe, it was postponed because organisers had struggled to find a venue as many were hesitant to host an event that would pose a risk to visitors. The exhibition finally opened on September 15 at the Vanderborght Building, which is owned by the Brussels city authorities.

“We want to make clear to Europeans that Islam is part of European civilization and that it isn’t a recent import but has roots going back 13 centuries,” said Isabelle Benoit, a historian with Tempora, responsible for designing the exhibition.

Visitors may view an “art” installation by US artist Gregory Green in which a mock bomb is held in a Louis Vuitton vanity case, funded by unsuspecting EU taxpayers.

Belgium has been on high alert for terror attacks following three ISIS co-ordinated suicide bombings in March last year.

Two bombs at Brussels Airport and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels killed 32 civilians and injured more than 300 people, while another bomb was also found during a search of the airport.

Last month, a Somali jihadist attacked two soldiers patrolling in central Brussels with a knife. The man rushed towards them and attacked them from behind while shouting “Allahu Akbar”, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

The attacker later died in hospital from his injuries after he was shot twice.