A minor born in 2008 was arrested, indicted and placed in pre-trial detention last week for a planned attack in France considered by the courts to be of terrorist inspiration, we learnedAFP from concordant sources this Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
A source close to the case notably confirmed the arrest and police custody last week of this minor from the west of France, for a planned violent action in the territory. According to Le Figaro he was reportedly arrested on the outskirts of Le Mans (Sarthe).
Requested by theAFP et West Francethe National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) confirmed the opening of a judicial investigation on Friday for “terrorist criminal association with the aim of committing crimes against persons”.
The accused “was indicted on this charge and placed in pre-trial detention”, added the Pnat, refusing to communicate more details on the motivations for this action project, nor on its progress at the time of the arrest.
Thursday, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau spoke of a foiled attack “some time ago” what would have tried to commit “a very dangerous individual on the verge of taking action.”
Another indicted in October
The last arrests for a planned violent action in France date back to mid-October.
A 22-year-old Afghan, committed to the ideology of the Islamic State according to the anti-terrorism prosecution, was indicted and then imprisoned, suspected of having “fomented” and “violent action project” in a football stadium or shopping center.
During the period of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, three attacks were foiled, according to the authorities.
Two young men, aged 18 and from Gironde, were indicted on July 27, suspected of having created a group on social networks “intended to recruit” people “motivated (to) perpetrate violent action” during the Olympics.
Other projects foiled this year
Another project targeted establishments, notably bars, around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne, while a third emanated from a group which had planned attacks against institutions and representatives of Israel in Paris.
Five people were indicted, including a minor teenager, in these cases.
The “jihadist threat represents 80% of procedures” carried out by the Pnat, recalled the anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen in mid-September. “In the first half of 2024, there were approximately three times as many procedures” of this type than over the same period in 2023, he added.
