The man that was subdued by four men after attacking a train in France had been verified by intelligence agencies to have worked in three different countries and had connections to radical Islam, authorities announced on Sunday, as previously covered by HNGN. However, the man's lawyer said the man stated to her that he was just a homeless person seeking to rob the train's passengers so he could feed himself, CBC News reported.
Ayoub El-Khazzani, 26, is of Moroccan descent and identified as an Islamic extremist. Spanish authorities said he had been living in Spain until last year. He had previous records for drug-dealing.
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Sophie David, his defense lawyer, said that El-Khazzani wasn't planning a terrorist attack. "He thought of a holdup to be able to feed himself, to have money...[He planned to] shoot out a window and jump out to escape."
"(I saw) somebody who was very sick, somebody very weakened physically, as if he suffered from malnutrition, very, very thin and very haggard," David told BFMTV, according to Reuters. "He is dumbfounded by the terrorist motives attributed to his action."
Intelligence agencies have been observing El-Khazzani in France, Spain and Belgium; nevertheless, he was still able to board a train heading from Amsterdam to Paris. Upon arriving in Brussels, it was apparent that he was heavily armed with deadly weapons which included a Kalashnikov, an automatic Lugar pistol and box cutter, which make it difficult to believe the gunman's motives, according to the Inquisitr.
David said the suspect thought of committing the attack after discovering these weapons at a park near the Gare du Midi station in Brussels where he often slept.
"A few days later he decided to get on a train that some other homeless people told him would be full of wealthy people traveling from Amsterdam to Paris and he hoped to feed himself by armed robbery," his lawyer said.
Kamal Cheddad, president of the Muslim Community for the southern part of the city, said he knows of the suspect. "He was an ordinary young man, he played football, went fishing, he worked to make a living."
