A 22-year-old Afghan, committed to the ideology of the Islamic State organization according to the anti-terrorism prosecution, was presented this Saturday, October 12 to a judge with a view to being indicted. He is suspected of having “fomented” a “plan for violent action” in a football stadium or a shopping center.
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The young man was arrested with two others on Tuesday October 8 in Haute-Garonne (south-west) by investigators from the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), supported by Raid, a police intervention unit. According to a source close to the case, their arrest took place following the receipt of information and as part of a preliminary investigation opened on September 27 by the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat) for “terrorist criminal association with a view to of the preparation of one or more crimes of personal injury.”
“ The investigations carried out revealed the existence of a planned violent action targeting people in a football stadium or a shopping center instigated by one of them, aged 22, of Afghan nationality and holder a resident card, several elements of which also establish radicalization and adherence to the ideology of the Islamic State », indicated this Saturday the Pnat to Agence France-Presse.
The prosecution opened a judicial investigation against him for terrorist conspiracy with a view to preparing one or more crimes of personal injury, and requested his placement in pre-trial detention. According to a source close to the case, he has lived in France for around three years. The other two men were released after their custody. “ Investigations will continue as part of the judicial information “, recalled the public prosecutor.
A jihadist threat which represents “80% of procedures»
The last arrests for a planned violent action in France date back to the end of July. Two young men, aged 18 and from Gironde, were indicted on July 27, suspected of having created a group on social networks “ intended to recruit ” people ” motivated (to) carry out violent action » during the Olympic Games.
In total, three attacks were foiled during the Olympics period, according to the authorities. In addition to the two young people from Gironde, one of the projects targeted establishments, notably bars, around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienneand the other came from a group that had planned attacks against Israeli institutions and representatives in Paris. Five people were indicted, including a minor teenager, in these cases.
There ” Jihadist threat represents 80% of procedures » carried out by the Pnat, recalled anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen in mid-September. “ In the first half of 2024, there were approximately three times as many procedures » of this type than over the same period in 2023, he added. This increase is explained, according to him, by the “ geopolitical context ”, but also by “ reconfiguration particularly in Afghanistan » of the Islamic State group. In September, two attacks by the Islamic State group in Khorasan (IS-K), the regional branch of IS in Afghanistan, killed around twenty people in that country. Deadliest ISIS attack left 145 dead in March in a concert hall in Moscow.