Hospitalized for three days in serious condition, Brahim A. has not yet revealed all his secrets.
But investigators remain hopeful of being able to hear this 21-year-old Tunisian, suspected of having murdered Thursday morning a sacristan and two faithful at the Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption basilica in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), in the coming days .
A hypothetical hearing which will depend on his tolerance to the awakening phase in which the suspected terrorist was placed this Saturday.
Pending an explanation of his action, the police officers of the PJ of Nice, the anti-terrorism sub-directorate (Sdat) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) were able to trace his fleeting journey in France in detail.
Thanks to the numerous surveillance cameras of the town hall of Nice and the two phones of the attacker, they discovered that Brahim A. arrived in the city on October 27 at the end of the day from Italy.
That is a little more than 24 hours before the knife massacre in the church.
The young Tunisian migrant, without legal title, is said to have arrived by bus from Rome with a backpack.
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According to the investigation, Brahim A. has no address and spends at least one of the two nights squatting in the lobby of a building, not far from the basilica.
The day before his act, the young vagabond is seen prowling near the church.
He approaches a handful of people during this time.
First Rabia D., a 47-year-old Niçois of Algerian origin with whom he talks at length.
According to the images, the latter transmits an unidentified object to the terrorist while he is at the wheel of a Renault Modus.
Then Abdoulkacem B., a 35-year-old Tunisian with whom he is seen walking in the city center.
"All they did was run into the terrorist"
According to our information, Rabia D. and Abdoulkacem B. declared in police custody that they did not know anything about Brahim A's plan to attack. They claim that the latter only asked for trivial information, such as advice. on places to eat.
"We are in the process of verifying if these meetings were really fortuitous and if the information given by the suspects could or not facilitate the passage to the act of the attacker", summarizes a source close to the investigation.
A third man was taken into custody at the PJ in Nice on Friday evening: he is Abdoulkacem B.'s cousin. This 33-year-old Tunisian was indeed present during the search of the attacker's interlocutor. .
Both known for common law offenses, in particular an infringement of the legislation on foreigners, but not for any radicalization, the two cousins lived in rue des Vediantiens, a popular alley in the high north of Nice.
It is made up of three or four storey buildings typical of Mediterranean architecture, mostly populated by families but also by a few recent immigrants.
Witnesses saw the anti-terrorist police officers, supported by the Raid and a ram, take two of Abdoulkacem B.'s apartment for a thorough search.
When questioned, friends of the two cousins expressed their amazement at their arrest, saying that they had nothing to do with the attack.
“Abdoulkacem is not radicalized, assures one of them.
All they did was run into the terrorist.
"Frankly, it would have been enough if we too spoke to him to be placed in police custody, assures another.
He would have asked us to help him out, without knowing his intentions, we would have done it.
This guy, he put everyone who crossed his path in the m ... "
The still unknown role of the 4th in custody
The day after his numerous exchanges with the inhabitants of Nice, Brahim A. goes in any case, from 6 am, to the TGV station to change.
Armed with three knives and carrying a Koran, he then marches towards the basilica and kills with chilling determination Vincent Loquès, Nadine Devillers and Simone Barreto Silva, aged 54, 60 and 44 years.
Before being overpowered by the municipal police shortly before 9 a.m.
A fourth suspect was arrested this Saturday around 3 p.m. but this time in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes): it is an acquaintance of the terrorist.
The role of this 29-year-old Tunisian in the affair remains unknown.
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At the same time, investigations are continuing in all directions in Italy, the country where the terrorist passed between September and October after his departure from Tunisia. They relate to an illegal immigration route taken by the terrorist, who arrived by boat on the island of Lampedusa with nearly 300 migrants, some of whom are still in the wild. Italian police are trying to find out if this network does not hide a network of jihadists. It appears that until October 26, Brahim A. was still in Sicily, in the region of Alcamo. A smuggler is currently being questioned, as are several companions in misfortune of the young Tunisian. Some have described Brahim A. as a “lonely and withdrawn” individual during the journey…