An Islamic terror suspect wanted in europe for more than two decades has been arrested in Ireland, we can reveal. The Algerian national, who was based in the port city of Marseille, did a runner before he could be locked up for trafficking arms and fake documents, which authorities say was linked to facilitating terrorism.

Abderrahmane Yahiaoui, in his early 50s, was hiding here from European police forces for 22 years, secretly working as a courier in Dublin. He was convicted of terror-related offences in France and sentenced to six years in his absence. A senior source said: “This a major coup getting this individual. . . The NBCI lifted him after painstaking detective work. It was a job to get him.”

Hand-picked officers from the Garda’s elite National Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested him and took him into custody over the weekend.

Last night the Irish Mirror learned he had been living in Firhouse, near Tallaght, South Dublin, under a false name. And Yahiaoui hid in plain sight working as a courier across the city. His employer would have had no knowledge whatsoever of his secret terror past. 

Yahiaoui will be taken under Garda escort to the High Court in Dublin for an extradition hearing this morning on foot of the European Arrest Warrant from the French. He appeared briefly last Saturday. 

The source said: “He will eventually be extradited to France to serve his sentence there. But at least one other country will want him after that.”

It’s believed he will fight any move to send him to France.