Overview
- Police found a Toyota parked near a cinema about 500 metres from a Sarcelles synagogue on July 11 that contained a Kalashnikov, a Beretta pistol and multiple magazines, prompting an evacuation of about 300 people while deminers searched the vehicle.
- The investigation began after the DGSI received an intelligence tip from Morocco alleging a possible Islamist attack on the synagogue, leading the Parquet national antiterroriste (PNAT) to open an antiterror inquiry.
- Following forensic and surveillance work, eight men were arrested in the Paris region on July 21 and six of them were presented to an investigating judge on Saturday, July 25 with the PNAT requesting their mise en examen and pretrial detention on common-law offences related to arms, theft and organised receiving of stolen goods.
- Authorities say genetic traces on the vehicle, bag and weapons plus extensive video and telephone exploitation linked suspects to the case, and three of the six men shown to a judge have prior convictions including drug offences.
- Investigations continue to identify possible organisers who delivered the Toyota and to specify the alleged violent plan, and prosecutors stress that investigators have not yet established that the six men knew of a terrorist project.