French police have detained a man suspected of plotting a violent, jihadist-inspired attack in France. An investigation has revealed that the man had been consuming jihadists propaganda, and had been considering joining the Islamic State armed group.
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The man, a 27-year-old from Tunisia, is suspected of “plotting a violent action inspired by jihadism”, according to the anti-terror prosecutors office.
He was arrested last week, on 7 May, after a preliminary investigation was opened the day before into “terrorist criminal conspiracy”.
He was placed in pre-trial detention on Monday.
Citing a source familiar with the investigation, AFP news agency reports that the suspect had been planning to attack a Paris museum and members of the Jewish community, though with no specific target
Le Monde and Le Parisien reported that he had considered the Louvre museum as a possible target, as well as the Jewish community in Paris’ 16th arrondissement.
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Besides plotting attacks, the suspect was contemplating joining “the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist organisation in Syria or Mozambique”, the PNAT prosecutor’s office said, confirming a Le Monde report.
According to newspaper, the suspect was born in Djerba in 1999 and arrived in France in 2022 after crossing the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
His phone contained numerous jihadist propaganda videos as well as hundreds of photos of firearms and knives, and searches on ChatGPT included questions such as “how to make a bomb”.
France faces rising terror risk as younger users fall for online jihadism
After a period of calm between 2021 and 2023, France has seen a rise in jihadist violence, according to anti-terror prosecutors.
France has been on high alert for attacks inspired by radical Islamist ideology, against the backdrop of the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran and Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Countries around Europe have reported a spate of incidents targeting the continent’s Jewish community, some of which investigators have linked to Iran.
(with newswires)
