Belgium makes 10th arrest in terror probe

Police in Belgium detained six suspects Thursday in another wave of raids targeting a suspected plot to carry out New Year’s Eve attacks, as security agencies around the world imposed extraordinary measures amid heightened fears after attacks in Paris and California.

Security is being stepped up in other major European cities ahead of New Year celebrations, including Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow, with officials wary of possible terror plots.

USA authorities said Thursday they had arrested and charged a 25-year-old American Muslim convert over an alleged attempt to launch a New Year’s Eve attack in upstate NY in the name of the Islamic State group.

Molenbeek, a working-class neighborhood west of the Brussels city center, was the home of at least three men believed to have taken part in the attacks: Abdeslam and his brother Ibrahim, who died in the attack, and Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to have been a planner of the attacks. Authorities do not have any evidence linking the biker gang and the terror suspects arrested for the Paris attacks, but reports say the two incidents highlight how Belgium has become a hotbed for Islamic terrorism.

An investigation revealed “the threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays”, the prosecutor’s office said. Paris prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said a text message was sent to a phone in Belgium shortly before ISIS gunmen attacked the Bataclan theater in Paris.

In Paris, security will be even heavier this New Year’s Eve, with some 11,000 police officers, or more than 2,000, to be on patrol.

About 10 cellphones were seized during the search that led to Bazzarouj’s arrest, and they are being examined.

“In these circumstances, we can’t check everyone”, Mayeur said.

Police had detained six people after searches at six locations in the Belgian capital and one just outside the city.

For New York’s Times Square celebration, some 6,000 police officers are expected to be dispatched, about 500 more than a year ago.

The operation was an apparent follow-up after two suspects were arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged bombing plot.

“Together with the interior minister, we’ve chose to not have the celebrations on Thursday evening”, Yvan Mayeur, mayor of Brussels, said in a statement.

“They are suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State and were planning an attack on the New Year in Ankara”, said a Turkish official who asked not to be named.