Belgian Police Find Surveillance Tape of Nuclear Worker's Home
February 17 2016 - 07:20AM
Dow Jones News
BRUSSELS—Belgian police investigating the Paris terrorist
attacks have discovered an hours-long tape showing the home of a
man working in Belgium's nuclear sector, the country's federal
prosecutor said Wednesday.
The 10-hours-long video, discovered during a raid linked to the
attacks, showed the exterior of a house, which investigators
eventually discovered was the home of a man working in Belgium's
"nuclear world," said Thierry Werts, a spokesman of the
prosecutor's office. He said a surveillance camera had been
installed in front of the man's home, but declined to give more
information on the man's identity and profession.
"There is no element that says that this was to perpetrate an
attack," said Mr. Werts.
Belgian daily De Standaard reported that the man was a top
official at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center in Mol in northern
Belgium. The research center, which operates under the auspices of
the Belgian energy ministry, didn't immediately have a comment on
the report. It conducts research into peaceful applications of
radioactivity, including in energy, industry and medicine.
Mr. Werts declined to say when the video had been discovered,
saying only that it was "a while ago" during a raid linked to the
Paris attacks. He said several people were detained during that
raid, but declined to say whether any of them were among the 11 men
that Belgium has charged in relation to the Nov. 13 attacks.
The Paris attackers killed 130 people using assault rifles and
suicide bombs.
Authorities around the globe have long feared that terrorists
could gain access to nuclear material or launch an attack on a
nuclear power plant.
Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, known as FANC,
stepped up security at all of the country's nuclear
facilities--nuclear-energy plants and industrial sites using
radioactive materials--in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
"We were informed about the existence of the video as soon as
the investigators discovered it," said Nele Scheerlinck, a
spokeswoman for FANC. But the additional security measures weren't
directly linked to the video, she said.
Ms. Scheerlinck said the security measures for the country's
nuclear facilities are continuously being reinforced. "We keep
track of this as closely as possible," she said.
Write to Matthias Verbergt at matthias.verbergt@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 17, 2016 07:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
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