A 14-year-old teenager has been arrested in a small town in Alsace, France, on suspicion of preparing a terror attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) ‘jihadist’ group, French authorities said on Wednesday.
“It is a very serious situation,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in an interview with BFMTV television channel.
Darmanin said that “the Islamic threat is very strong,” noting that since 2017 French security forces have stopped 41 attacks that were being planned in the country.
The 14-year-old suspect was arrested this Tuesday by agents of the General Directorate of Internal Security [DGSI- serviços de informação franceses] in the town of Rosenau, in the Upper Rhine department, near the borders with Germany and Switzerland.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) opened a preliminary investigation that aims to confirm whether the young man was preparing a violent action and, above all, determine what his objective was.
Artisanal artifacts were found in the raids carried out after his arrest.
Source: TSF
