Corruption is Everywhere > Afghan Son Buys $20m Mansion; Kurz Steps Down Under Investigation; Czech PM Edged Out in Election

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Son of former Afghan defense minister buys $20 million

Beverly Hills mansion, media reveals

8 Oct, 2021 21:42

Carla Ridge Residence in Beverly Hills, bought by the son of a former Afghan defense minister (FILE PHOTO)

©  Woods+Dangaran architects

The US government spent $85 billion on the Afghan military, only to see it surrender to the Taliban without a fight. Now the son of a former defense minister is spending millions to buy a luxury mansion with a view of Los Angeles.

A man by the name of Daoud Wardak has recently bought the Trousdale Estates property in Beverly Hills for $20.9 million, Yahoo News reported citing real estate records. He was described as an “ethnic Pashtun refugee” born in 1977, with public records showing him as president of AD Capital Group, based in Miami, Florida.

Wardak already owns a $5.2 million (home?) at the St. Regis Bal Harbour resort in Miami Beach, according to the same sources. His new Beverly Hills mansion, known as the Carla Ridge Residence, was recently redesigned in a “contemporary minimalism” style and offers views of the Los Angeles skyline through its glass walls.

Daoud is the younger son of Abdul Rahim Wardak, who served as defense minister in the US-backed government in Kabul between 2004 and 2012. The former mujahideen fighter was a key player in setting up the Afghan National Army – the same force that collapsed without a fight in August, leaving the Taliban in control of the country even before the US troops had a chance to leave.

The Pentagon expended an estimated $85 billion over the past 20 years on the ANA, including weapons, equipment and paying the soldiers’ salaries. There were persistent allegations over the years that some ANA commanders were falsifying the number of troops under their command (so-called “ghost soldiers”) so they could pocket the difference.

While Wardak toured western capitals to advocate for funding the ANA, he clearly didn’t believe in the future of Afghanistan enough to leave his children there. Both Daoud and his older brother Hamed ended up in the US, where Hamed ran a military contracting company NCL Holdings, getting paid by the Pentagon to secure supply routes in Afghanistan.

Hamed Wardak was also mentioned as CEO of Ludus Athletics, a “lifestyle brand inspired by Miami” with a motto of “LOVE THE WORLD,” which organized a beach volleyball tournament in March 2012. Less than five months later, his father was ousted from his defense ministry perch in a parliamentary no-confidence vote.

Ludus appears to be defunct now, however, and appears nowhere in Hamed Wardak’s LinkedIn biography.

US President Joe Biden announced in March that all US troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September, insisting that the Afghan army was more than capable of holding off the Taliban. Instead, the Taliban captured Kabul without a fight by August 14, leaving the US scrambling to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghan allies via the capital’s civilian airport. 

Biden described the airlift that brought out 124,000 people – but left some US citizens and many more Afghan allies behind – as an “extraordinary success,” while the Pentagon leadership rejected calls to resign in the aftermath.

Likewise, no one was disciplined over the deaths of 13 US troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians in the August 26 suicide bombing at the airport – or the retaliatory drone strike two days later, which killed 10 innocents including 7 children, instead of a suspected terrorist.

Austria’s Sebastian Kurz steps down as chancellor amid

new corruption scandal

9 Oct, 2021 17:53 / Updated 2 hours ago

Sebastian Kurz. © Reuters / Leonhard Foeger

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Saturday said he’s resigning amid a corruption probe that threatened to unravel his ruling coalition. Kurz, who’s replaced by his FM, denies the allegations, vowing to fight to clear his name.

Kurz said in a televised statement on Saturday that he is relinquishing his role as chancellor and will become leader of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in parliament as he works to clear his name of graft allegations. He called for Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg to replace him as chancellor.

The move averts a “no-confidence” vote after Austria’s Greens Party, which had campaigned on a promise of “clean politics” before joining the ÖVP-led ruling coalition last year, called on Kurz to step down. Prosecutors said on Wednesday that they were targeting Kurz and nine others on suspicion of bribery and other corruption offenses.

Given that ÖVP couldn’t pass motions without the support of its junior coalition partner, “I would therefore like to make way in order to end the stalemate, to prevent chaos and to ensure stability,” Kurz said in his Saturday statement.

He added that in the current phase of the Covid-19 pandemic and Austria’s economic recovery, what the nation needs now is “stability and responsibility.”

At the same time, Kurz continued to deny wrongdoing, vowing, “I will, of course, use the opportunity to refute and disprove the accusations that have been made against me.”

Opposition leaders had reportedly planned to introduce a no-confidence motion in Parliament next Tuesday. The Greens said on Friday that Kurz, who had already been under investigation for alleged perjury in a separate case, was no longer fit to lead as chancellor. The environmentalist party added that ÖVP needs to appoint an “irreproachable person” to replace Kurz.

Kurz, 35, was Austria’s chancellor from December 2017 to May 2019 and swept to power again in January 2020, after his conservative party won nine additional National Council seats and came to terms with the Greens on a ruling coalition. He has been a vocal critic of European Union asylum-seeker policies and said in August that Austria wouldn’t accept any more Afghan refugees.

Being a very suspicious person, I can't help but wonder if there is a link between Kurz's attitude toward Muslim migrants and the corruption probe? I really like this young man and hope this is not the end of his brilliant career.

Carl Bildt, co-chairman of the European Council of Foreign Relations, said that with Kurz’s decision to step down, “the immediate crisis in Austria is over.” If the Greens accepts the choice of Schallenberg as chancellor, the ruling coalition will likely hold together.

Czech PM edged out in narrow election, after corruption claims

in wake of Pandora Papers bolster opposition

9 Oct, 2021 17:45 / Updated 3 hours ago

(L) Petr Fiala. © Reuters / Milan Kammermayer; (R) Andrej Babis. © AFP / MICHAL CIZEK

Czech center-right opposition group Together is set to beat Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ ANO party in national elections. Babis was beset by corruption allegations after being named in the Pandora Papers ahead of the vote.

Voting in the Czech Republic took place on Friday through to midday on Saturday, and with 99% of ballots counted that evening, the center-right Together coalition is taking 27.69% of the vote – a hair above the 27.23% taken by Babis’ ANO party. The liberal Pirates/Mayors coalition are coming in third, with 15.5%.

Earlier results showed the ANO in the lead, but even before Together pulled ahead, both opposing coalitions had scored an overall parliamentary majority. At present, Together and the Pirates/Mayors have landed 108 seats in the 200-seat lower house.

President Milos Zeman has promised Babis the first shot at forming a government if the ANO wins the most votes, which it technically did, given that Together is a coalition of three smaller parties. Nevertheless, Together leader Petr Fiala and Pirates/Mayors leader Ivan Bartos have both stated that they will begin talks aimed at forming a government without Babis’ involvement, and it remains unclear whether Zeman will go back on his word. Both Together and the Pirates/Mayors have ruled out working with the ANO, which they see as a populist and fiscally irresponsible party.

Babis was an enormously successful businessman before taking office in 2017, and has an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion. His time in office has been marred by accusations of corruption and conflict of interest, however, as the business empire he controls has received EU funding. 

Babis is also one of 300 Czechs mentioned in the Pandora Papers, a trove of recently leaked documents laying out the network of shell companies and offshore banks the rich and powerful use to evade taxes. The investigation alleges Babis transferred nearly 400 million Czech crowns ($18.2 million) through a group of overseas firms to buy an estate on the French Riviera. According to the papers, Babis did not declare the purchase, but he is not accused of breaking any law.

Compounding the Pandora Papers revelations, Babis’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic was also expected to hamper his re-election chances. Last year’s lockdowns were unpopular, and the country has also suffered one of the worst death rates of any European nation, with more than 30,000 people dying of the virus out of a population of 10 million.

However, Babis has promised to raise public sector wages and pensions, and his hardline anti-immigration stance is a popular one, as is his opposition to closer ties with Brussels. In polls taken before the release of the Pandora Papers, Babis’ ANO was the clear favorite to win.

Another anti-migrant leader on the edge of defeat. While it appears to be self-inflicted, I wonder what the possibilities are of Brussels having something to do with how the Pandora Papers scandal was handled in the media?

$300mn Electricity Deal Between US Energy Co. with 2 Employees & Puerto Rico Agency Under Fire

Corruption is Everywhere

A pick up from Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings is parked as workers help fix the island's power grid, damaged during Hurricane Maria in September, in Manati, Puerto Rico October 25, 2017. © Alvin Baez / Reuters

Puerto Rico’s electricity agency and a two-year-old small-scale US company are under investigation by two House committees and a federal watchdog for their roles in a $300 million contract to fix Puerto Rico’s electrical grid following Hurricane Maria.

On Thursday, Republican and Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee, opened separate probes into Whitefish Energy and the Puerto Rico Electricity Power Authority (PREPA), according to The Hill.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has also initiated an audit of the contract in question, department spokesman Arlen Morales said, The Hill reported.

The US energy company allegedly has minimal experience repairing electricity infrastructure, and only employed two people at the time Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico last month, the Daily Beast reported.

Whitefish Energy only recently hired more employees, but it’s not known how many workers the company employed during the finalization of the deal. However, its company profile still only shows two full-time employees working for the firm.

The energy enterprise, which hails from the Montana hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, drew strong criticism from lawmakers, the Independent reported.

On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Whitefish CEO Andrew Techmanski, requesting various documents regarding the firm’s activities in Puerto Rico and a staff briefing by November 9.

Leaders in the House Natural Resources Committee directed their own probe at PREPA President Ricardo Ramos Thursday, asking for documents connected to how the agency he leads contracts with companies such as Whitefish.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Representative Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas), penned the letter and was blunt in their criticism of the contract.

“The committee is also examining PREPA’s decision to forego the activation of the mutual assistance program,” they wrote, referring to the American Public Power Association's program allowing utilities to call upon other utilities to aid in disaster relief.

Morales outlined the DHS Inspector General’s plan for their own investigation.

“They will review the contract and as part of their standard procedure, they will conduct vetting to look for the presence of any inappropriate relationships,” Morales said.

PREPA has defended the contract against recent calls for investigations and said Whitefish was awarded the multi-million dollar contract because they were the first to offer to help the storm ravaged territory without demanding significant advance payment, The Hill reported.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz even got involved in a war of words with Whitefish on Twitter. But Whitefish has since apologized to the mayor and the people of Puerto Rico for their part in the dispute.

This past week, numerous officials have called for several kinds of investigations into the approval of the Whitefish contract, including Cruz and fellow congressional Democrat, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello.

Cruz was emphatic in her criticism of the PREPA-Whitefish deal on Twitter.

“The contract should be voided right away and a proper process which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take place,” Cruz said on Wednesday, according to Yahoo News.

Whitefish tweeted a response to the mayor the same day, saying her comments were “misplaced” because the company already has hundreds of workers helping in the territory.

Cruz then questioned the energy company’s intentions a second time, and called Whitefish out on their “misplaced” comment.

As the Twitter exchanges heated up, Whitefish then asked Cruz if she would like the 84 Whitefish workers helping with recovery efforts on the island to continue aiding the territory, or be sent back to the US.

Sounds like something a scammer would say.

Cruz replied and called into question the company’s contract again.

Governor Rossello sent a letter to the DHS Inspector General's Office Wednesday, requesting an audit of on how Whitefish secured the contract, according to The Hill.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico in late September as a Category 5 storm, and at one point, left the entire US territory without power. 

75% of the island is still without power.

Whitefish, MT / Puerto Rico

Belgium Opens 189 Terrorism Cases in 2017, Focus on ‘Homegrown’ Extremists

The New Normal in Belgium

© Francois Lenoir / Reuters

Belgian prosecutors have opened more than 20 new probes against people suspected of terrorism-related offenses on average every month since the start of the year, with the total number reaching 189 to date, local media report.

The figure is already nearing the mark for similar cases opened throughout 2014, when the total number was 195. The average number of monthly cases opened also exceeds last year’s figure, which amounted to 22, the Belgian newspapers De Tijd and L'Echo report.

The Belgian media also report that the focus of investigators’ attention has now shifted from extremists who left Belgium to fight alongside terrorist groups in the Middle East, as it was in 2015, to “home-grown radicals” who have never left for Syria or Iraq, as well as towards increasingly younger suspects.

Investigations were also opened into cases in which Belgian citizens became victims of terrorist attacks in other countries, such as Spain, Turkey or Sweden. The Belgian authorities say that the risk of a terrorist attack in the country remains high.

All Belgian law enforcement and security services “from local police to state security service” are now working “primarily on terrorism” and collect as much information on possible terrorist threats as “never before,” the newspapers report.

They add that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has recently been strengthened through an increase in the number of magistrates from 24 to 32, with 12 of them now working solely on terrorism-related cases.

So far, 289 people have been tried for terrorism-related offenses since January 2015, according to media reports.

Belgium was hit by one of the worst terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years when in March of 2016 suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and the city’s metro killed 32 people and left scores more injured.

It was later revealed that one of the suicide bombers, Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, was known to the authorities for his criminal background, while Turkey had also warned he was a “foreign terrorist fighter.”

Belgium has a substantial migrant population and the largest per capita number of fighters that left to join terrorists in Iraq and Syria, according to a study by the Hague-based International Center for Counter-Terrorism, released in April of 2016.

In one of the latest incidents, explosives, loaded AK-47s, police and other uniforms as well as three handguns, ammunition and two bulletproof vests were found during raids in Brussels in early July. Two men suspected of “participating in activities of a terrorist group” were arrested following the discovery of the arsenal.

Romanian Government Takes Dead-Aim at It's Own Foot

I have this picture in my mind of someone loading a double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun, taking dead-aim at their foot and pulling both triggers

The unfortunate metaphor could also fit the Romanian people who elected the Social Democrat Party in December in spite of forcing them to resign just 14 months earlier for corruption and incompetence! To make matters worse, the leader of the PSD party, Liviu Dragnea, was serving a suspended sentence for electoral fraud when he was re-elected. And now, less than 2 months later the people suddenly realize that they have elected a bunch of crooks!??? Astonishing!

Clashes erupt in Bucharest following enormous anti-corruption rally

Groups of masked youths have been throwing flares, firecrackers and stones at police in central Bucharest, following a day of massive but (otherwise?) peaceful rallies that gripped Romania over what protesters call an effective decriminalization of corruption.

Up to 150,000 people rallied in front of the cabinet building in Bucharest on Wednesday, in addition to at least 100,000 across dozens of other Romanian cities, according to police estimates.

Massive crowds dispersed peacefully after midnight, but small groups that remained engaged in clashes with authorities.

The biggest protests in decades were triggered by a government decree that among other things decriminalizes minor graft offences, in which the sums involved are less than 200,000 lei ($48,000).

“Thieves, thieves,” and “Repeal it, then leave,” was heard in the streets of the capital as hundreds of thousands rallied in the capital. Most of the protesters were youth who were mobilized via Facebook, the Romania Insider reports.

Protests have also taken place inside the parliament, where the opposition deputies put up banners reading “Shame,” and shouted “Resignation!” and “Thieves!” The centrist Liberals and the Save Romania Union USR filed a no-confidence motion against the government but has little chance of succeeding, Reuters reports.

Massive protests in Romania have continued for the second night in a row following the controversial emergency decree.

While Bucharest justifies the measure as a way to prevent prison overcrowding, activists argue the ruling party seeks to protect its members who are now on trial for corruption or who have already been convicted.

That's so funny - the government reducing prison over-crowding by keeping itself out of prison.

The decree will stop a number of key investigations against Romanian politicians, including the leader of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea.

MI5 ‘Blocked’ Arrest of ISIS-Supporting Radical Preacher Choudary ‘for Years’

Many of us who pay attention to things like this have been frustrated for years trying to figure out why the British allowed this nut-case to continue preaching his Islamic insanity. Now we know why, and personally, I think it was extremely irresponsible. How many young people were radicalized in this time frame? How many terrorist attacks was he involved in during that time?


Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary © Tal Cohen / Reuters

Counterterrorism officers were repeatedly blocked by British security service MI5 from pursuing criminal investigations against Britain’s highest-profile radical preacher, Anjem Choudary, it has been claimed.

Last week, Choudary was found guilty of supporting Islamic State, which seized territory in Iraq and Syria and inspired terrorist attacks across Europe.

Following his conviction, it was revealed that the 49-year-old former lawyer had been linked to at least 15 terrorist plots since 2001. Police also believe he has connections to as many as 500 of the 850 young British Muslims who have traveled abroad to join IS.

According to the Telegraph, counter-terrorism officers often felt they had enough evidence to build a case against the cleric, only to be told to hang fire by MI5 because he was crucial to one of their ongoing investigations.

The situation led to a build-up of tension between the two sides, with police feeling “frustrated” that Choudary was not being brought to justice, a source told the newspaper.

He was eventually prosecuted after swearing an oath of allegiance to IS and posting YouTube videos in which he praised the group.

One counterterrorism source says the decision not to prosecute him earlier came from MI5.

“I am gobsmacked that we allowed him to carry on as long as he did. He was up to his neck in it, but the police can’t do full investigations on people if the security service say they are working on a really big job, because they have the priority,” he told the Telegraph.

“That is what they did constantly. While the police might have had lots of evidence, they were pulled back by the security service because he [Choudary] was one of the people they were monitoring.

“It was very frustrating and did cause some tension, but we were told we had to consider the bigger picture.”

Security expert Will Geddes said while police and security services had a good record of working together, there was often a difficult balance to strike between prosecuting evidence and gathering intelligence.

“Whilst the cops always want the collars the spooks want the information and it is a challenge getting the right balance.

“Choudary was certainly clever and knew where the line was, and that was part of the reason it took so long to get him. But it was certainly possible that MI5 wanted to continue to monitor him because he was the focal point of so much,” Geddes told the Telegraph.

“Given how influential he was in terms of setting up the forums for those guys to get inspired, it made perfect sense for the intelligence agencies to say ‘we haven’t exhausted this yet.’

“In the end though he got caught because he believed his press too much and he got carried away by his own media profile."

Choudary faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 6.

British Spies Gave Faulty Intelligence on Iraq, Then Quietly Withdrew It - Chilcot

But where is the American inquiry into 

this incredible atrocity?

Detail of a declassified handwritten letter sent by the then British PM Tony Blair,to George Bush, former President of the United States, is seen as part of the Iraq Inquiry Report presented by Sir John Chilcot at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster,In London,Britain July 6, 2016. © Reuters

The Chilcot report into Britain’s invasion of Iraq is highly critical of the UK intelligence services, saying it provided “flawed” information about Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

In his damning report on the Iraq war, released on Wednesday, Sir John Chilcot slams security agencies such as MI6 over major errors in their intelligence gathering and assessments.

Chilcot says it worked on the “misguided assumption” that Saddam had WMD - a threat which turned out to be non-existent and was the basis for war - and made no effort to investigate otherwise.


This file photo taken on December 22, 2005 shows British Prime Minister Tony Blair (C) with troops at Shaiba Logistics Base in Basra, Iraq. © Adrian Dennis

“At no stage was the proposition that Iraq might no longer have chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or programmes identified and examined by either the joint intelligence committee (JIC) or the policy community,” the report says.

In September 2002, MI6 reported it was on the edge of a “significant breakthrough” after finding a new source inside Iraq with “phenomenal access” to information about WMDs.

The source, which said Iraq had accelerated production of chemical and biological weapons, was later described in MI6 notes as having been lying to SIS over a period of time.

However, the reports were used to provide assurance in drawing up a 2002 dossier preparing the case for war. Reports from that agent were still being reissued in April 2003.

According to the Chilcot report, MI6 “did not inform No 10 or others that the source who had provided the reporting issued on 11 and 23 September 2002, about production of chemical and biological agent, had been lying to SIS.”

In July 2003, the reports were officially withdrawn, but in a “low key manner compared with the way in which the original intelligence was issued.”

Blair was not originally told the source’s information had been withdrawn.

The Chilcot report is highly critical of Sir John Scarlett, the chairman of the JIC, and the then MI6 chief, Sir Richard Dearlove.

Chilcot says Scarlett is to blame for failing to ensure the assessments of the intelligence community were properly reflected.

Chilcot says intelligence services got some assessments correct, which were largely ignored by Blair.

They included that while Saddam had the potential to proliferate WMDs to Islamic terrorists, he was unlikely to do so. Furthermore, Iraq was likely only to mount a terrorist attack in response to military action and if the existence of the regime was threatened. 

Consequently, invading Iraq dramatically increased the danger of Saddam using WMDs, so why then invade? Did they know there was no risk because Saddam didn't have any WMDs?

The intelligence community also assessed it would take Saddam four to five years to acquire enough fissile material to build a nuclear weapon, but the Blair dossier claimed it could be achieved within a year or two.

The report says Blair presented assessments by the spy agencies to parliament with a “certainty that was not justified” by the intelligence that had been gathered.

The report says “the flaws in the construct and intelligence were exposed after the conflict.”

If I were a conspiracy theorist, actually I am a conspiracy theorist, and I assumed that Mr. Blair heard what he wanted to hear, the elements of this intelligence farce couldn't have come together more perfectly. 

It's not a coincidence that British Intelligence made the same mistakes as American Intelligence. That in itself is reason to suspect collusion. I'm pretty sure that an inquiry would find the same results in America, but we will never see that.

I'm not a Clinton fan, nor a Democrat, but why haven't there been investigations into this intelligence failure that resulted in 250,000 Iraqis dead, 5000 Americans dead, and was undoubtedly responsible for the formation of ISIS? Why? 255,000 dead + ISIS compared to 4 in Benghazi, and there have been numerous investigations into Benghazi and none into the decision to invade Iraq - an unequivocally illegal act with astounding repercussions.

I can't help but think that if Saddam had used WMDs, there would have been way fewer casualties than a quarter of a million.

Swiss are Conducting 46 Criminal Cases Related to "Jihad Motivated" Terrorism

Swiss probe Muslim group member over Syria videos

I fear life in Europe will never be the same again

From BBC Europe

A Swiss border guard controls the area at the Bardonnex border

Switzerland remains on high alert following the terrorist attacks in Paris

Swiss authorities are investigating a leading figure in a prominent Muslim organisation on terror-related charges over videos made in Syria.

Prosecutors said the German suspect is a board member of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS).

He is suspected of using videos of his trips to Syria for propaganda purposes.

Switzerland remains on high alert following the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November that left 130 people dead.

Last week, the city of Geneva raised its security alert following a warning that a cell of so-called Islamic State (IS) was in the area.

Swiss prosecutors did not name the suspect, but the ICCS said - in a statement announcing a press conference for Monday morning in Berne - that Naim Cherni would be among those taking part, and would give his personal response to the allegations.

A statement from the Swiss attorney general's office said that criminal proceedings had been opened against the ICCS board member on suspicion of violating laws banning extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and IS.

The suspect is said to have produced videos of his trips to conflict zones in Syria for propaganda purposes.

The attorney general's office said the man was "accused of having interviewed a senior member of the jihad umbrella organisation Jaish al-Fatah, of which the Syrian al-Qaeda branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, (al-Nusra Front) is also a member".

It said he had made the video "without explicitly distancing himself from al-Qaeda activities in Syria".

The office indicated that the man had not been arrested.

Separately, a statement by the authorities also confirmed that charges had been filed against four Iraqi citizens, accused of preparing a terrorist attack.

In total, Swiss authorities say they are conducting 46 criminal cases related to "jihad motivated" terrorism.

Last week, President Simonetta Sommaruga said a "foreign authority" had warned of a possible IS cell in Geneva. Security was stepped up.

In a separate development, two Syrians were arrested on 12 December near the French border, with police saying that traces of explosives were found in their car.

IS said it carried out the attacks in Paris on 13 November. Two men linked to the attacks - Salah Abdeslam and Mohammed Abrini - are still on the run and investigations have been launched in several European countries.