At the time of the attacks in Paris and Brussels, Kalashnikovs could easily be bought in Brussels for €1,000-€1,500, according to 58-year-old Leonardo P.
Leonardo was summoned to appear before the Brussels Assize Court trying the suspects accused of involvement in the 22 March 2016 terror attacks in Brussels.
The man, who is currently serving a prison sentence on weapons charges, testified in custody, flanked by two police officers on Thursday. He said he had been with Ibrahim El Bakraoui – the perpetrator of the first explosion at Zaventem airport – in Ittre prison between 2009 and 2014.
“He was very cheerful, he talked about football all the time, he was a Barcelona supporter,” he recalled. “He never talked to me about anything (related to a planned attack – Editor’s note),” he said, adding that he did not find him radicalised.
Once released, Leonardo P. worked in a cafe on the same street as the El Bakraoui brothers’ parental home. “Ibrahim came to find me there because he was looking for Kalashnikovs. He had heard, in prison, that I had kept army weapons at home for a friend. He was very evasive about the dates, initially mentioning the period '2016-2017'.”
The presiding judge pointed out that the Brussels attacks had taken place on 22 March 2016. He then argued that the request was made “before the Paris attacks” (in November 2015 – Editor’s note) because “afterwards it was too late.”
“He didn’t tell me why” he wanted to get weapons, tLeonardo P. stressed, saying he had “never provided weapons to the El Bakraoui brothers,” nor “given addresses” of places where they could get them.
Court President Laurence Massart then wanted to know if it was easy to get weapons at that time in Brussels. “Yes, it was easy, it was enough to make contact with people from the East, Yugoslavs or Albanians, in cafés.”
To do so, it was necessary to pay “between €1,000 and €1,500,” he said in answer to a question from an alternate juror. “Second-hand,” he said, to which the presiding judge replied that it was clear they did not come directly from the factory.
The president asked him again if he knew Ali El Haddad Asufi, one of the defendants who allegedly helped Brahim El Bakraoui in the search for weapons, via Dutch arms dealers. “No, I never saw him,” he said.
Ali El Haddad Asufi’s lawyer, Jean-Christophe De Block, called the testimony “crucial”. “The witness, who is known to organised crime, openly told us that he knew Ibrahim El Bakraoui well, that the latter came to ask him for Kalashnikovs,” he resumed.
“He also said that Kalashnikovs are to be found everywhere in Brussels, in Albanian homes, in cafés… But according to the public prosecutor, Mr El Haddad still took the risk of travelling from Brussels to Rotterdam and loading his car with weapons of war to bring them back to Brussels,” he added with what may have been a twinge of irony.
