Paris (France) (AFP) – French authorities charged Wednesday a young man and three minors in connection with an attempted attack against a Bank of America branch in Paris, as investigators explored suspicions a pro-Iran group was involved.
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The plot, thwarted before dawn on Saturday, came more than a month after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a regional war, sending energy markets into a tailspin.
A source following the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man in his early twenties from a Paris suburb had been charged with “terrorist criminal conspiracy” and remanded in custody.
French counter-terrorism prosecutors suspect he asked teenagers to place an explosive device outside the US financial institution near the famed Champs-Elysees avenue.
The investigation suggested he recruited three minors the night of Thursday to Friday, offering to pay them 500 to 1,000 euros ($580 to $1,160) for the job, the National Counterterrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said earlier in the day.
After a failed attempt that night, “two of three minors tried again the following night”, it said.
The man’s lawyer did not wish to comment when asked by AFP.
Police arrested the three minors over the course of the past few days and they have been remanded in custody.
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Possible links to Islamist group
The lawyers for one of them criticised PNAT for divulging to the press “a detailed synthesis of the case even before the investigative magistrates and the lawyers had been informed”.
Lawyers representing another of the minors declined to comment, while lawyers for a third said their client had “excellent school results” and there was “no element indicating a terrorist intention”.
A source close to the case told AFP that “the minors know each other; they are from Montreuil (just outside Paris). The adult, who was hanging around the neighbourhood, had already given them paid jobs.”
“The teenagers said they had been pressured by the adult,” another source close to the case added.
The PNAT says the incident could be linked to a little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran, though no firm link has yet been established.
The Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Police had on Monday last week been informed of a HAYI propaganda video on social media “specifically targeting the French headquarters” of Bank of America, the PNAT said.
The adult suspect told investigators “a third party, presenting themself as an intermediary, had approached him via a social network’s messaging service to have the explosive device planted as part of a personal vendetta”, it said.
“The explosive device was allegedly delivered to his home by a person he did not know,” it added.
