A joint investigation conducted by Greek and French authorities found that Abdelhamid Abaaoud‘s DNA matches DNA samples found during a Greek police raid of apartment buildings in Athens in January 2015.
Abaaoud, a Belgian national who is considered to have orchestrated the November 13 attacks in Paris, was killed in Belgium by Belgian authorities. Since then authorities have been trying to retrace his steps from Syria into Europe.
French authorities had sent Abbaoud’s DNA samples to Greek authorities in order to examine whether they match samples in Greece’s database. The examination did in fact find traces of Abbaoud’s DNA in two apartment in the areas of Pangrati and Sepolia in Athens.
During an investigation into these apartments in January, Greek police had arrested one Algerian national who was then extradited to Belgium, under suspicions that he was part of a recently-dismantled group that was planning an attack there.
A week ago the Greek Citizen Protection Ministry had refuted French claims that foreign intel found that Abaaoud had been in Greece in January, noting that such information had not been verified up to that point.
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