Turkish police have arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan origin who is suspected of being an ISIS operative who scouted the sites that were attacked in Paris last week. Ahmet Dahmani, 26, was arrested at a luxury hotel; two Syrian men were also arrested nearby.
Dahmani had reportedly been under surveillance since he flew on an airline to the seaside resort of Antalya – the same town that, just last weekend, hosted President Obama and other world leaders at the G-20 summit.
"There is an ongoing investigation into Dahmani's alleged contact with the perpetrators of the Paris attacks," Istanbul journalist Dalia Mortada tells NPR's Newscast unit. "According to a Turkish official, the terror suspect entered Turkey one day after the onslaught in Paris."
The arrest of Dahmani seems to have foiled an attempt to bring him back across Turkey's border and into Syria, according to police cited in local reports.
From Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News:
"Two other men, 29-year-old Ahmet Tahir and 23-year-old Mohammed Verd — both Syrian citizens — were also detained on a nearby highway on suspicion that they had been sent by ISIL in Syria to ensure Dahmani's safe passage across the border and were planning to meet him. The suspects had fake passports in their possession, the police said."
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