He fled back to his native Brussels as the massacres were underway and disappeared with the suspected help of accomplices linked to the criminal underworld where he was formerly known as a drug dealer and thief.
The trail went cold until March last year, when Belgian and French police stormed what they believed was an empty terrorist safe house in the district of Forest.
But they were met by a hail of bullets from a militant armed with a Kalashnikov, who was shot dead as two suspects fled across surrounding rooftops.
A search of the flat resulted in the recovery of Abdeslam’s fingerprints on a glass, convincing authorities that he was still in Brussels, and the renewed search led police his hideout just metres from his former home in Molenbeek.
Abdeslam and suspected accomplice Sofiane Ayari have been charged with attempted terrorist murder over the gun battle in Forest, where Algerian Isis militant Mohamed Belkaid was killed.
The pair escaped during the gun battle, which injured six police officers, although it is unclear whether Belkaid was the only gunman or whether Abdeslam and Ayari were involved.
Ayari arrived in Europe with another member of the terror cell and held a forged Syrian passport in the name of Monir Ahmed Alaaj as well as a fake Belgian identity card in the name of Amine Choukri.
Abdeslam did not appear in Brussels’ Chambre du Conseil court for Thursday’s hearing as he remains imprisoned in France.
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