French counter-terror police arrest four members of same family on bomb-making charges
FRENCH counter-terrorism officials have arrested four members of the same family on bomb-making charges.
The men were arrested at their Paris home on Tuesday
All four men are known to police and are suspected of having close links to radical Islam, a judicial source told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.
Three of the men, who are aged between 20 and 42 and whose identities have not yet been revealed, were arrested at their Paris home in the early hours of Tuesday morning and immediately taken into police custody.
The fourth suspect, who is currently in jail on terrorism charges, has been removed from his cell for questioning.
DNA from one of the suspects was found on bomb-making material
All four relatives have also been accused of having links with terrorism
The judicial source said: “All four relatives have also been accused of having links with terrorism.”
Police made the arrests after the DNA of one of the suspects was found on bomb-making material seized during a separate house raid in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, which took place earlier this year.
In January, police discovered a large stash of bomb-making material, including bottles of acetone and sulphuric acid – which can be used to make explosives –, in a flat believed to be used by one of the suspects.
All four of the men have links to radical Islamist circles
Police also found a rag, a plate, aluminium foil and a thermometer during the raid.
All four men had been placed under surveillance by DGSI counter-terrorism officials months before their arrest, and were known to police for their close links to radical Islamist circles.