FRANCE: Investigators continue to search building where they say they discovered bomb making materials

Record ID: 351963

  • Title: FRANCE: Investigators continue to search building where they say they discovered bomb making materials
  • Date: 11th October 2012
  • Summary: TORCY, FRANCE (OCTOBER 10, 2012) (REUTERS) BUILDING WHICH HOUSES THE SUSPECTED BOMB MAKING FACTORY MASKED SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS WITH POLICE VARIOUS OF MASKED SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS INSIDE THE BUILDING POLICE VEHICLES EXITING GARAGE SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS WALKING DOWN THE STREET WOMAN WALKING WITH CHILD AS CAMERAS FILM (SOUNDBITE) (French) LOCAL
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CAEXLQ43A8PO6W3B2LUXGTLP
  • Story Text: French anti-terrorist police continued their search of a suspected bomb factory on Wednesday (October 10), after a Paris prosecutor said that bomb-making materials and weapons were found there during an investigation into suspected radical Islamists across the country.
    Investigators searched garages in the town of Torcy, near Paris, overnight after an anti-terrorist raid on Saturday ended with police shooting dead an Islamist suspect linked to a grenade attack last month on a Jewish supermarket and arresting 11 others.
    The prosecutor Francois Molins said a shotgun, a revolver, bags of potassium nitrate, sulphur and a pressure cooker were discovered at a garage used by the suspect, at whose home police on Saturday had found a list of Jewish groups in the Paris area.
    "Yes, I was shocked and surprised. Facing all this, it is a bit frightening," said local resident Nadjet who walked by as police conducted their investigations.
    Another resident, Phillipe, said radical Islam should not be confused with the religion.
    "We shouldn't mix it all up. We can't mix this up with Islam. Personally I have very good friends who are Muslims. It's a mess, well, not a mess. It just gives a bad image of Islam, that is all it is. Islam is not this, it has nothing to do with this," he said.
    Molins said a dozen suspects rounded up in raids over the weekend would be held for a further 24 hours after the discovery of chemicals used to make explosives at a garage in the Paris suburbs belonging to one of them.
    France's Jewish community has been on edge after a series of attacks in recent months. In the worst incident, three Jewish children and a rabbi were among seven shot dead in the southern city of Toulouse in March by an al-Qaeda-inspired gunman.
    Last week, the government said the terrorist threat remained high as it presented legislation allowing police to arrest those believed to have been involved in terrorism-related activity outside French borders.
    Molins said the detention of the dozen suspects could be extended again by a further six days if necessary.
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