Approximately 6 weeks prior to the deadly attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds, these 4 operatives left the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa and entered into Turkey, amongst a wave of fleeing immigrants from the war-torn country. From Turkey, the group made a daring entry into Greece, in a small boat filled with fleeing refugees.
At this point the group was forced to separate, as Greek Naval forces intercepted the boat and placed Haddadi and Usman under arrest for possessing fake Syrian passports. Throughout the journey, the group was being controlled by their ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was located in Syria, but used a sophisticated array of encrypted messaging to communicate with his team.
Greek officials would not comment regarding how al-Mahmod, and al-Mohammad were be able to traverse their country. What is clear, however, is that the terrorist couple traveled throughout Europe unnoticed by authorities, until reaching Paris, their target, in November of 2015.
Meanwhile, in late October, 2015, Haddadi and Usman were released from custody. Reports show that on November 14th, a day after the Paris attacks, they arrived in Salzburg, Austria, awaiting fresh orders from their ringleaders.
On December 10th, 2015 Austrian security officials stormed the refugee center in Salzburg, arresting the 2 terrorists. Encrypted messages on both of their cell phones revealed plans to travel to Paris in the near future to execute another terrorist strike.