*UPDATED WITH FRENCH JUSTICE MINISTER COMMENTS
PARIS (AA) – A chief suspect in last November’s terrorist attacks in Paris was extradited to France overnight, according to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
A Brussels court approved Salah Abdeslam’s transfer to France on March 31.
“In implementation of a European arrest warrant issued March 19, 2016 by the investigating judges in charge of the criminal investigation into the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, Salah Abdeslam was extradited today to the French authorities,” said the prosecutor in a statement.
“The arrest warrant was applied on him after arriving at 9:05 am (local time) on the [French] national territory.”
The prosecutor said Abdeslam will stand before judges during the day and “the prosecution will seek his provisional detention.”
France’s Justice minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said Abdeslam will be held in the solitary confinement sector of an adapted prison in the Paris region with maximum security and under guard of a special team.
“He [Abdeslam] will be guarded by a dedicated supervisory team … trained to the detention of people deemed dangerous. A number of measures have already been taken to secure his environment,”Urvoas told reporters following a Cabinet meeting in the Elysee palace.
Although he didn’t identify which prison, French media, including French daily Le Figaro, suggested Abdeslam will be taken to Fleury-Merogis -south of Paris- one of the largest prisons in Europe.
He had been the target of an international manhunt for four months following the November attacks that killed 130 people across Paris.
Franck Berton, Abdeslam’s lawyer in France, told reporters he was unaware of the extradition.
