It is an arrest and a profile of the perpetrator that causes concern. According to information from the newspaper Le Parisien, a person with a criminal record as an Islamist dangerous person was arrested in Seine-Saint-Denis and taken into custody at the premises of the anti-terrorist department of the Criminal Investigation Department. He is suspected of having ordered a Kalashnikov and ammunition in the United States, via a website described as being ” obscure “. But the package was intercepted by customs and therefore arrived at its destination completely empty, as our journalistic colleagues report.
The 27-year-old, who was arrested in his hometown, did not give investigators an explanation for his order. He also stated that he was not planning any attacks or “violent actions”, although the trial of the terrorists in the November 2015 attacks is scheduled to begin. Although there is no evidence to suggest that the man intended to commit the crime, nor are his motives known, investigators found “a large amount of jihadist literature” in his home.
According to Le Parisien, the man would not be willing to cooperate either, as he would ” make a fool of himself ” in police custody, they say. Anti-terror investigators are still analysing his computer hardware. The 27-year-old was due to be brought before an anti-terror judge on Saturday evening, while the national anti-terror prosecutor’s office decided to take over the case. An investigation was opened for “criminal terrorist organisation and violation of the law on firearms in connection with a terrorist activity”. According to Le Parisien, the General Directorate of Internal Security was also entrusted with the investigation.
A few hours before the opening of the trial for the terrorist attacks on November 13, tensions are at their peak. The attack with a cleaver in September 2020 by a Pakistani in front of the former Charlie Hebdo building,during the trial for the terrorist attacks of January 2015, had increased this feeling of fear in the French capital. One thing is certain in this case: the man was on the Islamist list and thus poses a “serious threat to state security”, even if no crime or offence has been committed at the moment.