Police in southern France have arrested four women and a girl as part of an anti-terrorist investigation into an alleged plot to attack the city of Montpellier
PARIS – Police in southern France have arrested four women and a girl as part of an anti-terrorism investigation into an alleged plot to attack the city of Montpellier.
A Herault region police official confirmed the nightly arrests in the town of Beziers and said on Sunday that the DGSI’s domestic intelligence service and the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office are handling the investigation.
According to Mayor Robert Menard, investigators focused on an 18-year-old woman who was living in a housing project in Beziers, suspected of plotting an attack on Montpellier. The mother and three sisters of the 18-year-old were also arrested, including one who is a minor, he said.
The 18-year-old had “bragged” about neighbors watching Islamic State videos, Menard told The Associated Press, though he said he did not know if she or her family had been on the radar of the authorities for radicalism.
Menard, who was alerted by police to the operation, said he spoke to outrageous neighbors at the scene.
“She is OK. They fear that it will give a bad image of this neighborhood and the Muslim community here, ”he said.