Paris and Brussels terror suspect handed £3,000 in UK park

A jury at Kingston Crown Court has heart that Mohamed Abrini, a suspect involved in the Paris and Brussels terror attacks, was given £3,000 during a meeting in Birmingham, in July 2015. Zakaria Boufassil, 26, who is accused of handing over the cash, denies preparing for acts of terrorism, while a second man, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, has pleaded guilty to the same offence. Abrini became known as ‘the man in a hat’, following a CCTV image released after the Brussel bombings which killed 32 people at an airport and metro station. Speaking to the court, Max Hill QC, said there ‘can be no doubt’ the money was handed over to him while in the UK ‘with the intention of assisting acts of terrorism’. He commented: “That much is clear from the guilty plea by Mohammed Ali Ahmed. Mr Boufassil, denies that he personally intended to assist in the preparation of terrorist acts. "We suggest he is lying. We suggest that he was clearly acting together with Ahmed when the money was handed to Abrini. You can be sure that Ahmed, Abrini and Mr Boufassil met that day - that was the handover of the money to Abrini." Hill added: “The actual use of the money handed to Abrini is not part of the offence charged. There is no clear evidence one way or another. If it is suggested to you that Abrini may or did use some of the cash given to him to gamble in a casino, that does not undermine the criminal offence. "What matters is the conduct in question, the handing over of the cash to Abrini and the intention behind the handover. What they do with it is another matter."