Earlier this month a French police officer and his wife were murdered by a mujahid at their home in a suburb of Paris. Before any real investigation had begun, the explanation released by the authorities and dutifully repeated by the media was that the killer, Larossi Abballa, was yet another “lone wolf” killer who had somehow radicalized himself, and lacked any connection to terrorism.

However, additional information has emerged in the last two weeks suggesting that Mr. Abballa was anything but a loner in the world of jihad. Many thanks to Ava Lon for translating the following article from Le Point:

Larossi Abballa: A lone wolf, really? LePoint.fr has gained access to documents that establish concrete links between Larossi Abballa and jihadists well known to the authorities. Three of them were placed in custody in connection with the investigation of Larossi Abballa, the murderer of two policemen in Magnanville. Although one man emerged free, Saad Rajraji and Sharaf-Din Aberouz, 27 and 29, were brought before the public prosecutor for a possible indictment. Both were familiar with Larossi Abballa. They had been convicted and imprisoned at the same time, clearly progressing in jihadist circles. Abballa’s relational map is gradually emerging . It indicates that the perpetrator of the two murders maintained direct links with members of the group responsible for the Buttes-Chaumont, Forsane Alizza or the Casablanca attacks. The “lone wolf” theory seems less and less likely. Sharaf Din Aberouz is one of Larossi Abballa’s relatives. The two men were part of a group of seven French nationals suspected of having links with Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Two of them were arrested in Lahore by Pakistani intelligence in 2011, just before reaching Waziristan, where they planned to train for jihad. Back then Sharaf Din Aberouz was 25 years old. He was sentenced to five years in prison in France for criminal association for the preparation of a terrorist act. He was released on 12 November 2015 on a conditional remission. “Violent in its relations with the disbelievers” According to the information we have seen, he was far from being a perfect prisoner. The prison administration calls him “radicalized”, behaving “like a recruiter”, and notes: “He approaches newcomers among the detainees, promotes Islam and begins teaching individuals that he takes under his tutelage.” On 21 February 2012, Sharaf Din Aberouz organized a gathering of forty prisoners during the walk and gave a speech for ten minutes “while the prisoners present — who seemed captivated and admiring — listened in complete silence,” noted the worried agents. On 27 January 2013, he delivered a call to prayer in the middle of the night. On June 6, the guards reported “violent behavior in his relations with the unbelievers.” On 31December 2014, he welcomed the announcement of the execution of Hervé Gourdel in Algeria. To prevent him from radicalizing all his fellow prisoners, he was transferred from one facility to another five times over a period of three and a half years.