A 22-year-old engineering student and his 20-year-old brother have been arrested in France over a deadly and anti-Semitic plot, anti-terror prosecutors said on Sunday.
The two brothers, who are of Italian and Moroccan nationality, were arrested on Tuesday last week in northern France, the national anti-terror prosecutor’s office said.
The brothers, identified only as Elyasse H. and Moad H., were arrested while in a car near a prison in the northern town of Longuenesse after the report of a drone flying over the jail.
Photo AFP / NSW Courts
Inside their vehicle, police officers discovered a semi-automatic weapon, a bottle of hydrochloric acid, aluminum foil and a flag of the Islamic State group stretched across the headrest of the driver’s seat.
While in police custody, the brothers admitted that “they had been planning a terror attack in France for which they aspired to martyrdom,” the office said.
The men had been radicalized and exposed to “jihadist propaganda,” the statement said.
Prosecutors said the analysis of the seized materials indicated that the two brothers had been radicalized over the past two years, and had taken steps toward committing “a terror plot whose deadly” and anti-Semitic nature “appears to be established.”
They said the brothers had allegedly plotted to commit a crime in France because it was not possible to travel to Syria or Palestine to “wage jihad.”
A video pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, made by Moad H. earlier this month, was also discovered.
He appears to be in contact with several individuals who are radicalized or under investigation or convicted of a terrorist offense, the office said.
“Exchanges with various contacts via encrypted messaging services in the days and weeks leading up to their arrests, aimed in particular at sourcing handguns or assault rifles, suggest that a violent act was imminent,” it added.
In other photographs and videos, “they stage themselves using firearms or brandishing a knife, dressed as fighters, with their index finger raised toward the sky in front of the Islamic State flag.”
An investigation was opened on Sunday into criminal conspiracy to commit terrorism, as well as the acquisition and carrying of weapons.
The office has requested that the two brothers be charged and remanded in custody.
The brothers arrived in France with their parents in 2017.
During questioning, they admitted they had given a lift to a minor to ensure a delivery to the prison via drone.
French authorities say drones have been used in the past to deliver snacks, drugs and even saw blades to detainees.
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