The brother of the Marseille attacker Ahmed Hanachi, the Tunisian migrant who killed two young women last week in Marseille, has been arrested in Italy and stands accused of being complicit in a terrorist organisation.
Italian authorities say the man, named Anis Hanachi, was arrested in the Northern Italian city of Ferrara after an international arrest warrant was put out by the authorities in France. Police say that he was arrested at his home on Saturday night and is suspected of “complicity and participation in a terrorist association,” L’Express reports.
The Italy’s counter-terrorism unit claims to have tracked Hanachi down and allege that his brother, who committed the attack in Marseille, had also lived in Aprilia, Italy, just south of Rome.
“He married an Italian woman in 2008, was registered as a resident between March 2010 and May 2017 and was arrested twice for a drug case and another robbery,” an Aprilia town spokesman said.
The Islamic State terror group took responsibility for the attack in Marseille, though French authorities have been reluctant to say Ahmed Hanachi had concrete ties to terrorism. Witnesses to the attack claimed that Hanachi had shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as he attacked his two young victims.
Marseille Terrorist Ahmed Hanachi Avoided Deportation Day Before Attack https://t.co/dTylnM0K7q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 3, 2017
What is known about Hanachi is that he was an illegal immigrant in France from Tunisia and he had avoided deportation only one day before the attack took place.
Police have also announced that they are probing a 2,000 euro payment made to Hanachi shortly before the attack took place. So far investigators have not said there is any relation to the payment and the attack and have noted that Hanachi was known as a small-time criminal.
The case is very similar to another failed Tunisian asylum seeker, Anis Amri, who was also a low level criminal in Berlin. Amri killed 12 people and injured 56 others last December when he drove a truck through the crowded Christmas market. Islamic State also took responsibility for the attack.
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