Attack on Paris averted - radio
2002-12-17 11:34
Paris - The arrest of three presumed terrorists by agents of the
French intelligence service has prevented a Christmas chemical attack on Paris, says radio station Europe 1, citing police
and judicial sources.
On Monday, police arrested an Algerian, a Franco-Algerian and a Moroccan national in a raid on their apartment in a Paris suburb. They discovered all the elements necessary to make a
chemical weapon.
Europe 1 said that, in addition to chemicals in liquid and powder form, police
seized canisters and other containers in which the substances could have been combined.
Quoting police sources, the radio station said the three men
seized were believed to be a terrorist commando unit and were
apparently preparing an attack in the French capital on or around
Christmas.
Police crackdowns
The sources said, however, that the arrest of the three men did not mean that the threat of an attack in Paris had been ended, since there were probably other, similar units still operating in the region.
The three men arrested had travelled to Afghanistan and
Chechnya. In addition to the chemicals, police also seized a
computer, Islamic literature and $5 000 (about R43 500).
The arrests are the latest in a series of police crackdowns on
presumed terrorists in the greater Paris area.
About 25
people suspected of ties to various terror groups have been taken
into custody by French police in the past three weeks. - Sapa-DPA
- SAPA