A Frenchman of Chechen origin was arrested near the synagogue in Strasbourg on Thursday October 19. According to information from Le Figaro, the 15-year-old was detained by a police officer (CRS) when he let the blade of his knife slip over the metal fences around the Great Synagogue of Peace. He then allegedly concealed the weapon in his sleeve. The man was then taken into police custody and told investigators that he had found the knife by chance in his pocket. The blade was twelve centimetres long. The teenager later claimed that he had not known that the building he was in was a synagogue.
Investigators had found a message in his mobile phone on the social network Snapchat that said: “ATT I’m coming to your school, I’m going to fire the Kalashnikov, I’m going to be the most famous Chechen.” The person also reportedly researched the internet to find out the price of a Kalashnikov. However, he is said to have assured that he wanted to buy the heavy weapon in order to set up a drug smuggling ring. The investigation has since been handed over to the criminal investigation department. As a reminder, another incident of this kind occurred in the south of France. A man armed with a knife had been arrested in Cannes on Wednesday when he was 300 metres from a synagogue. He had threatened a passer-by and shouted “Allah Akbar”. According to Gérald Darmanin, 3,376 reports of glorification of terrorism or anti-Semitic acts have been registered since the Hamas attack in Israel.
