French police said to foil attack days before vote
PARIS — French police thwarted an imminent “terror attack” and arrested two suspected radicals Tuesday in the southern port city of Marseille, French authorities said Tuesday, just days before the first round of France’s presidential election.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the suspects, who had met in prison in 2015, “were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action on national territory.”
He said investigators have not determined “the day, the targets and the exact circumstances” of a potential attack.
France votes Sunday in the first round of its twostage election. Extra safety measures are being put in place for the balloting after the extremist attacks in the country that have made security one of the major issues of the presidential campaign.
The suspects, Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, both French, were detained under arrest warrants for terrorist criminal association, according to a police document.
Molins said Merabet had in recent days tried to send a video to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, to claim “allegiance or responsibility” for a potential attack.
Baur’s family signaled to authorities in 2015 that he had been radicalized, with the possible intention of going to Syria. He had links with Belgian jihadi networks, Molins said.
In their Marseille apartment police found one automatic rifle, two handguns, quantities of ammunitions and 61⁄2 pounds of explosives as well as products and equipment to make explosives, Molins said.
He said a flag of the ISIS group, a video camera, six mobile phones, one laptop, a black hood, a mask and a wig were also discovered.
President Francois Hollande hailed the “remarkable” arrests and the work of police.