In the aftermath of the deadly attacks on Paris, the densely populated Brussels neighborhood of just under 100,000 — some 80 percent of whom are of Moroccan descent according to the mayor — has gained a reputation as one of Europe's pre-eminent breeding grounds for jihadis, and preferred stop for extremists. [...] she and other residents who spoke Monday played down the scale of the problem, even as heavily armed police in ski masks and body armor searched a nearby home in one of the neighborhood's gritty streets. Police arrested three suspects in the impoverished neighborhood on Saturday, and French officials on Monday identified Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who grew up there, as the presumed mastermind of the attacks last Friday in Paris that killed 129 people and injured hundreds. Mohamed Abdeslam, one of three brothers who have been linked to the Paris attacks, emerged from an apartment overlooking the central square in Molenbeek on Monday after being released by Belgian authorities to tell reporters that he and his family "could never have believed that one of our brothers was involved." Molenbeek — pronounced MOHL'-un-bayk — right now clearly is a melting pot of Islamic influences, but the Muslims are just the latest wave of migrants to call it home.