The operation was directed from Paris by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) and mobilised specialised services, which simultaneously arrested five people in Nancy, Toul and Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy on Friday morning. A preliminary investigation for “terrorist criminal organisation in preparation of one or more crimes against persons” is underway.
On Friday December 22, an anti-terrorist operation took place in Meurthe-et-Moselle, conducted from Paris by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT). Five people were arrested during simultaneous operations in Nancy, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Toul.
The operation was deployed by police officers from various services specialising in counter-terrorism, such as the Sous-direction antiterroriste (SDAT) or the Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI) and its Groupe d’appui opérationnel (GAO), which was specially mobilised for the arrest and transfer of people with a terrorist profile.
Shortly before 1 p.m., three vans of the task force positioned outside Nancy railway station – probably to take all or some of the detainees to the SDAT in Levallois-Perret by high-speed train – did not go unnoticed by the inhabitants of Nancy.
Against the backdrop of the tense international geopolitical situation and three days before the Christmas festivities: Did the intelligence gathered by the counter-terrorism services drive the operation in the Mortem-et-Moselle region because there was a potential risk that a crime could be committed? Or was it simply to dispel doubts about people under surveillance? The police custody of the suspects will allow a thorough review, both in terms of the items seized during the house searches and in terms of the profile of those arrested.
Was an attack on a Christmas market in a town in the department to be feared? It’s fair to ask. When asked, the Nancy public prosecutor’s office referred to the PNAT, which has national competences in the area of terrorism.
The PNAT confirmed to us on request that “an operation with arrests has taken place on the instructions of the PNAT. However, at this stage of the procedure, it is not possible to provide further information,” the PNAT said. “The police custody measures were taken as part of a preliminary investigation into allegations of terrorist association of offenders in preparation for one or more crimes against persons under Article 421-1(1) of the Criminal Code.”
We remember that on the 11th of December 2018, five people were killed and eleven injured in the terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg. After a two-day manhunt in the Alsatian capital, the 29-year-old terrorist, who was known to be a radicalised Islamist, was shot dead by police in the Neudorf district. A trial before a special court (Cour d’Assises Spéciale) is to take place in Paris from February 29.
In Meurthe-et-Moselle, the prefecture announced in October that 55 people had been given an S file ( in the sense of ” risky for the security of the state “) and were registered in the FSPRT file ( for the prevention of radicalisation of a terrorist nature ). The prefect explained that “more than half” of the 55 people were already behind bars.