Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam extradited to France

PARIS

A chief suspect in last November’s terrorist attacks in Paris was extradited to France overnight and officially charged Wednesday, according to the Paris Prosecutor's Office.

A Brussels court had approved Salah Abdeslam’s transfer to France on March 31.

Abdeslam, the sole known survivor of the Paris attackers, had been officially charged with six preliminary charges of murders and possession and use of bombs and weapons, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said in a statement published late Wednesday.

Molins earlier in the day said Abdeslam's extradition was an "implementation of a European arrest warrant issued March 19, 2016, by the investigating judges in charge of the criminal investigation into the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015."

The suspect, who was born in Brussels and holds French nationality, was put under "provisional detention" and taken to jail after he stood before investigative judges and charged Wednesday afternoon, Mollins said.

French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said earlier that Abdeslam will be held in the solitary confinement sector of an adapted prison in the Paris region with maximum security and under guard of a special team.

"He [Abdeslam] will be guarded by a dedicated supervisory team ... trained to the detention of people deemed dangerous. A number of measures have already been taken to secure his environment," Urvoas told reporters following a Cabinet meeting in the Elysee Palace.

Although he didn't identify which prison, French media, including Le Figaro suggested that Abdeslam will be taken to Fleury-Merogis -south of Paris- one of the largest prisons in Europe.

Abdeslam had been the target of an international manhunt for four months following the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 people across Paris.

He told investigators in Belgium that he had rented the cars used in the attacks and claimed to have backed out on a plan to take part in the bombing of the Stade de France football stadium.