The Catalan Interior minister, Joaquim Forn, has confirmed this Monday that the driver of the van and main perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Barcelona is Younes Abouyaaqoub. He stated this in an interview on the El Matí programme on Catalunya Ràdio, where he also pointed that about there a manhunt underway for the suspect, and that they are working on the hypothesis that there was only one person in the van.
On the whereabouts of Abouyaaqoub, Forn acknowledged that they have no evidence to suggest he could be outside Catalonia, but that they will coordinate with European police because they will "search in all European countries".
The minister also confirmed what was suspected for a few days, in ruling out that Abouyaaqoub might have been one of the dead in the Alcanar explosion. "Everything points to him as the van driver," he said, adding that in a press conference convened for 12:30pm more details would be given "because this is the conclusion that has been reached".
Link to the car in Diagonal
In addition, Forn added that "everything points to that the attack in Barcelona and the incident on Diagonal [street] - where a Ford Focus jumped a check-point and was found soon afterwards in Sant Just Desvern with a body that had been stabbed inside - are related".
The Interior minister added that concerning "the Imam of Ripoll, no previous records are known. The Muslim community there did not think he could be a radical person".
Joaquim Forn also pointed out that "at this time, an imminent attack has been ruled out, and for that reason we have not raised it to security level 5". "We have had conversations with the ministry and agreed to not increase the terrorist alert to level 5," he said.