Two men were indicted on Saturday (February 25th) for criminal conspiracy and possession of weapons in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a judicial source said. They were placed in pre-trial detention in accordance with the prosecution's requests.
These two suspects were arrested on Tuesday, one in Marseille and the other in Clermont-Ferrand. A third suspect was arrested on the same day in the Paris region but he was released at the end of his custody without any charges being laid against him.
Report by the Interior Ministry
The 19-year-old man arrested in Marseille had met via social networks one Malik Hammami who was suspected of being the "mentor" of two young people arrested in the Herault on February 10 in connection with the preparation of a terrorist attack termed "imminent" according to the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Le Roux.
He and his 27-year-old companion, whom he also met on the Internet, had expressed their willingness to "go to Syria after failing to commit an attack in France," although a specific target in Frane could not yet be determined at this stage, according to a source close to the case.
The preliminary investigation by the French police
The preliminary investigation of these two men opened at the beginning of January by the Paris public prosecutor's office accelerated on February 10. The police had spotted a message from the suspect arrested in Marseille advocating his friend Clermont-Ferrand to "go green," according to this source.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said one of the suspects was believed to be planning a suicide attack but that the investigation had not yet uncovered a specific target.
He said, a person in the group had tried to reach Syria in 2015 and was known to intelligence services. The group — notably the girl — attracted new attention with their social media postings, he said.
The prime minister of France complimented the work of the police department for tracking down the terrorist groups.
