2nd stash of bomb materials discovered
Police secure the area during an operation after components that can be used to make explosives were found in a flat in Villejuif, near Paris, September 6, 2017.
French police unearthed a second stash of explosive materials near Paris yesterday after a similar find in a nearby suburb on Wednesday, a justice official said as three suspects were questioned by anti-terrorism investigators.
Yesterday’s swoop was carried out at a garage rented by one of the three detained in the wake of Wednesday’s raid on an apartment in Villejuif, on the southern edge of the French capital, the source said.
Materials used to produce TATP, an explosive often used by suicide bombers, were found at the flat after a plumber phoned police to report suspect activity there, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.
Two people in their 30s and 40s were arrested in the immediate wake of Wednesday’s raid, said Collomb, who added that the suspects were being questioned on suspicion of terrorist activity despite talking of a bank heist. A third man was arrested overnight, a source said.
“Those under investigation spoke of wanting to blow up a bank with the TATP but the way we see it is they have links with terrorism, and this is the channel of investigation,” Collomb told public radio station franceinfo.
