Spanish police have detained a man, identified as Driss Oukabir, as one of the suspects in the Barcelona terror attack, which killed at least 13 people and injured 100 others. On Thursday, a white van veered off the road and into a crowd in the Barcelona's hugely popular Las Ramblas district at around 5 pm that killed several innocent people.
Police suspect that the 28-year-old Oukabir rented the van that was used to carry the terror attack. However, after the Spanish media released the photo of Oukabir, he went and handed himself to police claiming his identity was stolen.
Here are a few things to know about Driss Oukabir.
Driss Oukabir claims his identity was stolen
Driss told police that his passport was stolen and he was in the town of Ripoll when the terror attack happened, according to the local Spanish sites. Ripoll, where he lives, is located some 70 miles north of Barcelona.
Jordi Munell, the mayor of Ripoll, said that Driss insisted that his documents were stolen and went to the local police as soon as he saw his images online.
Why was he named the suspect?
Police had named Driss as one of the suspects because the van that was used to carry out the attack was rented in his name in the town of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda.
However, police now suspect that Driss's younger brother, Moussa Oukabir, could have been involved in the accident. According to La Vanguardia, Moussa is 18 years old and lives in Barcelona.
Driss a Moroccan citizen
Driss, who was born in 1989, is a Moroccan citizen, but he is a legal resident in Spain. In 2012, he was released from a jail in Figueres. However, his Facebook profile said that he was from Marseille in South France and currently living in Ripoll.
Driss' Facebook page pulled down
Driss Oukabir's Facebook profile, which has been deleted now, was flooded with hate and threatening messages after he was named one of the suspects. On Tuesday, he shared a photo on Facebook that shows him sunbathing on a beach. The Facebook profile also stated that he is in a relationship since 2013.
According to his Facebook profile, he liked rap music, TV series Prison Break and his favourite book, the Qu'ran.
