French anti-terrorist police on Friday arrested four people in southern France on suspicion of preparing what Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said was an “imminent” attack.
The arrests in Montpellier and the nearby town of Marseillan “foiled a plot to carry out an imminent attack on French soil,” Le Roux said in a statement
A police source said the four — who included a 16-year-old girl — were arrested after buying acetone, a highly flammable liquid that can be used to make bombs.
The other suspects were all men, aged 20, 26 and 33, the source said.
“It seems that they intended to go through with it and to make several explosive devices.”
The teenager had used social media to try to find ways of travelling to Syria to join up with ‘jihadists’, the source said, adding that the 20-year-old had been her mentor and was under surveillance.
France remains on high alert after a wave of attacks that began two years ago, claiming more than 200 lives.
Source: AFP
