Police in the south of France arrested four women and a girl as part of an anti-terrorist investigation of an alleged attack plan against the city of Montpellier
PARIS – Police in the south of France have arrested four women and a girl as part of an anti-terrorist investigation into an alleged attack plan against the city of Montpellier.
A police officer in the Herault region confirmed the nightly arrests in the city of Beziers and said on Sunday that the DGSI’s domestic intelligence service and the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office are handling the investigation.
Investigators focused on an 18-year-old woman who lives in a housing development in Beziers and is suspected of planning an attack on Montpellier, according to Mayor Robert Menard. The 18-year-old’s mother and three sisters were also arrested, including a minor, he said.
The 18-year-old “bragged” to neighbors about watching Islamic State videos, Menard told the Associated Press, although he said he did not know whether she or her family was on the authorities’ radar for radicalism.
Menard, who was alerted by police about the operation, said he had spoken to stunned neighbors at the scene.
“They are horrified. They fear that it will give a bad image of this neighborhood and the Muslim community here, ”he said.