The Hague, Nov 18 (AFP) Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last week’s terror attacks in Paris, was briefly held and fined in February for possession of cannabis, Dutch police said today.
“He was arrested during a routine roadside exercise in early February,” a police spokesman told AFP, adding that a “limited” quantity of cannabis was found in his car.
Abdeslam was allowed to continue on his way after paying a 70 euro (USD 75) fine, the police said.
Frenchman Abdeslam, accompanied by one of his brothers and another person was travelling south in a Belgian-registered car when he was stopped near the western Dutch town of Gorinchem.
The police did not say which brother was involved in the incident. Abdeslam is believed to have fled after gunning down people at bars and cafes in Paris’ 10th and 11th arrondissements late Friday alongside his brother Brahim Abdeslam, who later blew himself up outside a bar on Boulevard Voltaire, seriously wounding one person. Mohamed Abdeslam, who was himself briefly detained in Belgium after the string of coordinated attacks in Paris left 129 people dead, on Tuesday advised his brother Salah to turn himself in.