Brother of Paris Attack Suspect Jailed for Stealing Public Money – Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Mohamed Abdeslam, the elder brother of the sole surviving suspect in the 2015 Paris attacks, was sentenced on Wednesday to 2.5 years in jail for money theft, local media reported.

Abdeslam and his two accomplices were ordered to repay the 70,000 euros ($79,000) in cash they stole from government employees last February as they were carrying the money to a bank, the RTBF said.

Defense attorneys were able to prove to a court in Brussels that the threat to employees’ life was a hoax, allowing the trio to avoid a heftier sentence for armed robbery.

READ MORE: Man Attacks 7 People With Knife in Downtown Paris, Gets Arrested (VIDEO)

The 29-year-old Salah Abdeslam is awaiting trial for his role in the bomb-and-gun attacks by Islamists in Paris three years ago that killed 130 people. He was jailed for 20 years in April for a shootout with Brussels police in March 2016.

The deadliest terrorist attack occurred in France on November 13, 2015, when gunmen killed 130 people and injured over 350 others in Paris' northern suburb of Saint-Denis in a series of coordinated attacks. Collomb characterized the attack as "the first case of mass murder" in France.