Dutch court allows extremist suspect to be sent to France

AMSTERDAM – A Dutch court on Thursday approved the transfer to France of a 32-year-old Frenchman suspected of crimes including “involvement in a terrorist organization” and illegal weapon possession.

Anis Bari was arrested in March by heavily armed police in the Dutch port of Rotterdam at the request of French officials. Prosecutors say police found a large stash of ammunition, money and drugs during raids linked to his arrest.

Bari is allegedly linked to Reda Kriket, who is in French custody. France’s interior minister has said Kriket was in the “advanced stages” of a plot to attack a target in France when he was arrested earlier this year.

Judges at a tightly guarded courtroom on the outskirts of Amsterdam rejected a string of objections by Bari’s lawyer to the transfer and said there was no possibility for appeal. He should be transferred to France within 10 days.

Bari, sitting between his lawyer and an interpreter, said nothing during the brief hearing.

According to details of the European arrest warrant released Thursday. French officials say a search of his family home in France late last year uncovered “Jihad videos,” false identity papers and bomb-making instructions. In another house Bari allegedly visited, French authorities found weapons, explosives and stolen identity documents.

The warrant also said that Bari had travelled to Syria from late 2014 to early 2015 to fight with “terrorist groups,” but it did not specify which groups.