lThe French secret services have arrested an 18-year-old Chechen who was preparing a jihadist attack during the Olympic Games in the stadium of the city of Saint Etienne, one of those that will host the football competition, the Ministry of the Interior announced this Friday.
The head of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, stated in statements to the local press during a trip to the city of Tourcoing (northern France) that the suspect had no criminal record, was not registered by the secret services and “there was nothing to suggest that he was radicalized.” “.
A younger brother was also arrested with him, but he was released without charge.
Attentat déjoué pour les JO à Saint-Etienne: “Le suspect n’était pas connu des services de renseignements”, declares Gérald Darmanin pic.twitter.com/xhNpeJMtj6
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 31, 2024
Asked what it is believed he was going to attack with, the minister responded that “with artisanal means”and in this regard he recalled that in 60 percent of the attacks in France the weapon used is a knife.
After inspecting his cell phone, he acknowledged having had conversations via messenger with people who are linked to the Islamic State or other movements associated with Islamic radicalism, but He has insisted that he had no intention of carrying out an attack.
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The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, highlighted in the statement that It is the first attack against the Olympic Games that has been thwarted. But the secret services have already prevented 50 in France since 2017.
Nevertheless, The police have arrested at least 78 people who tried to disturb the passage of the Olympic flame, which landed in France on May 8 in Marseille.
The general director of the police’s territorial information services, Bertrand Chamolaud, explained in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro that a quarter of those booked are “psychiatric cases” and that this psychological fragility makes them more permeable to jihadist propaganda. incitements to resort to violence.
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