One of the Daesh terrorists behind the New Year’s Eve Reina nightclub attack, which killed 39 people in Istanbul’s district Ortaköy, had been previously detained in Denmark on suspicion of terror but was released soon after, following his questioning by the police, according to reports.
According to the report by Turkish daily Karar, Danish police had arrested the Reina fugitive İbrahimjon Asparov, a Danish national, who supplied the terrorist who carried out the deadly nightclub massacre Abdulgadir Masharipov, with weapons used in the attack.
The fugitive, who goes by the codename ‘Danyelik Ibrahim,’ was arrested on June 29 in the southeastern Danish city of Jutland on terror suspicions but was released on probation after being questioned.
According to a report published by Danish Extra Bladet newspaper, Asparov was being investigated by Danish intelligence services on terror suspicions and was later let go as the investigation continued. Police sources contacted by Extra Bladet declined to share further information.
According to the criminal charges being filed by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor against Asparov, he is suspected of being a member of the Daesh terrorist organization and of being responsible along with another suspect named Khasan Gulomov for supplying Masharipov with the AK-47 rifle and ammunition used in the Reina nightclub attack.
The number of terrorists involved in attacks whom had previously been under surveillance by European police are increasing every day.
All three suspected suicide bombers in the Brussels attacks had known links to the terror cell behind the Paris attack in November 2015, and one of the terrorists, named Al-Bakrawi, was flagged as a terrorist suspect after being arrested in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep in June 2015, and eventually deported to Holland.
At least 39 people, including a police officer, were killed when a gunman opened fire on partygoers at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul’s Ortakoy district early on New Year’s Day.
On Jan. 16, Abdulgadir Masharipov, the main suspect behind the deadly attack, was captured by police in Istanbul's Esenyurt district.
Four other people, including a man of Kyrgyz origin and three women, were detained along with Masharipov.
