The man is currently in a house surrounded by police

Mar 22, 2012 08:13 GMT  ·  By

23-year-old Mohamed Merah, the terrorist allegedly part of Al-Qaeda that shocked France with his killing spree, was tracked down by investigators after they managed to identify his location based on an IP address that pointed to his brother’s residence.

According to Le Monde, a parachutist called Imad Ibn-Ziaten, the first victim, posted an online sale ad for a motorcycle. Merah contacted the soldier claiming that he wanted to purchase the bike and when Ibn-Ziaten met the man he believed was a potential buyer, he was shot.

The website on which the ad was posted helped investigators track down the killer because it was not visited by many people, only a number of 580 IP addresses being found.

After the IPs of the individuals who had accessed the site were filtered only for those from the city and its surroundings, authorities were able to identify the one of Merah’s brother.

This information, along with the testimony of a motorcycle dealer who the suspect contacted to remove a tracker from his Yamaha motorcycle led to a positive identification.

The latest reports reveal that the man is currently surrounded by law enforcement officials in a residence.

Authorities are trying to negotiate the killer’s surrender. They could raid the house at any time, but they want to do their best to ensure that he’s taken in alive.

French interior minister Claude Gueant, present on site, told the press that the man’s actions were a form of protest against the French army. He also wanted to avenge Palestinian children.

In the meantime his brother was also apprehended, investigators believing that he had some degree of involvement in Merah’s plot.

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