Paris attacks: Pictures emerge of suicide bomber being arrested six months ago

Video footage shows Brahim Abdeslam, one of the Paris suicide bombers, had been arrested by Belgian police in the past Credit: Everlasting Group

New video has emerged that gives a valuable insight into the life of crime and delinquency that presaged the radicalisation of the men responsible for France’s worst terrorist attack since the war.

It shows Brahim Abdeslam - one of the Paris suicide bombers - being caught red-handed by police in May this year trying to burgle a bar in his own neighbourhood of Molenbeek in the Belgian capital Brussels. He was later released even though when he was apprehended Brahim had already been radicalised and had already travelled to Syria to fight with the so called Islamic State.

It will doubtless form part of the inquiry by Belgium and France’s intelligence services into the clues and chances they missed to interdict the men, who showed little respect for the law or the property of their neighbours.

Probing questions will also be asked about the contacts the men made in the criminal underworld who may have supplied them with the weapons they used to carry out the attacks.

In the video footage Brahim Abdeslam can be seen being escorted away by Belgian police after trying to burgle a bar in his own neighbourhood of Molenbeek Credit: Everlasting Group
Belgium and France’s intelligence services are expected to delve into Brahim Abdeslam's criminal past when looking for clues about how the Paris attacks were able to happen Credit: Everlasting Group

One source I spoke to in the justice ministry says Belgium has a problem with automatic weapons most from the Balkans which have flooded onto the black market here, giving this country at the heart of Europe a reputation as a centre for the illicit arms trade.

I was told with the right connections you can buy an AK-47 for between 1000-2000 Euros. The guns are often smuggled in from eastern Europe where millions where stolen during the war in Yugoslavia.

Each year forensic experts in Belgium examine 10-15 AK-47s as well as dozens of other handguns and rifles. And that is just the tip of the arsenal available to criminals.

This haul of guns was discovered in Belgium just two weeks ago Credit: ITV News

There is also a problem with guns that have supposedly been de-activated, being crudely re-worked to enable them to fire again.

Slovakia is often cited as a country where the de-activation process is unsatisfactory, enabling criminals to buy blank firing weapons used in films there and modify them to shoot with lethal force again.

It will be months before we know for certain how they got the weapons and who supplied them, but already it is an issue that Theresa May and other interior ministers have been grappling with here in Brussels at an emergency summit.

One idea is to electronically tag each weapon to enable the police to track it throughout its life. That might work for new guns rolling off the FN production line in Liege, but it won’t tackle the tens of thousands of Kalashnikovs already in circulation here.