Paris suspect had papers on German nuclear research centre

Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the Paris attacks had documents about a German nuclear research centre in his Brussels apartment, a German newspaper group reported on Thursday.

The Juelich research centre is near the Belgian border and atomic waste is stored there. The centre said in a statement there was no indication of any danger and that it was in contact with security authorities and nuclear supervisors.

The Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group that published the story, cited sources within the parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential.

The sources are cited as saying that Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV), had told the nine-person committee at the end of March that Abdeslam had the documents.

It said Mr Maassen had told the committee, which is in charge of monitoring the work of German intelligence agencies, that printouts of articles from the internet and photos of Juelich research centre chairman Wolfgang Marquardt had been found in Abdeslam's apartment in the Molenbeek area of Brussels.

RND said it was unclear whether Mr Maassen had passed this information on to the chancellery or the interior ministry.

It said several members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and a terrorism expert at the BfV said they knew of this information and Mr Maassen had confidentially informed them.

Abdeslam, who was born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan-born parents, was arrested on March 18th, 2016 in the Belgian capital.

Four days later, suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train.

Concerns that Islamist militants are turning their attention to the nuclear industry’s weak spots have risen since the Brussels attack.