A petty criminal one day and a terrorist the next – for many people, this seems like an inexplicable leap. How did Zied Ben Belgacem, the Paris Orly attacker, with little to no understanding of geo-politics or Islam, suddenly become a terrorist? What do we know about Zied then and does his profile make sense, within the wider public’s understanding of what an Islamist terrorist is?

Let’s break this down then: already, early investigative work reveals his frantic last texts and calls to loved ones: “Dad, I’ve done something stupid….Daddy, please forgive me, I’ve screwed up.” Is this the hallmark of an operationally capable terrorist? The last text, for example, from the Bataclan attackers in Paris 2015, read simply and chillingly: “Okay, let’s go.”

We also now know that Zied’s toxicology read out showed high dosages of alcohol, cocaine and cannabis – police records show a history of drug dealing, armed robbery and theft – and intelligence packets reveal he was on the police radar and had brush contact with extremists in prison.

In short, this is what we’d call a classic “crime-terror” nexus.

MORE: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/zied-blegacem-paris-orly-airport-attack-bataclan-prison-extremism-a7639636.html