Abaaoud first travelled to Syria last year -- but seemingly not out of any great religious motivation. "He did not even go to the mosque," his older sister Yasmina told the New York Times earlier this year.


Like many who travel to the so-called Islamic State, his actions appear to have been motivated more by a thirst for power, violence and unaccountability.


In an interview printed in Islamic States english magazine, Dabiq, Abaaoud told how he had travelled to Belgium to terrorise the crusaders waging war against the Muslims.


The Independent reports that according to his family, the young man showed much more interest in petty crime than Islam, and they were shocked when he took his 13-year-old brother Younes with him to travel to Syria in January 2014.


After he was trained and further radicalised in Syria, Abaaoud was able to return to Europe via Athens. He was picked up by European security services and reportedly even stopped by police but let go, after which he disappeared.

He bragged: My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary.