A 22-year-old engineering student and his 20-year-old brother have been arrested in France over a "deadly and antisemitic" plot, anti-terror prosecutors said on Sunday, March 15.
The two brothers, who are of Italian and Moroccan nationality, were arrested on Tuesday in northern France, said the national anti-terror prosecutor's office (PNAT). The brothers, identified only as Elyasse H. and Moad H., were arrested while in a car near a prison in the northern town of Longuenesse after the report of a drone flying over the jail.
Inside their vehicle, police officers discovered a semi-automatic weapon, a bottle of hydrochloric acid, aluminium foil and a flag of the Islamic State jihadist group stretched across the headrest of the driver's seat.
While in police custody, the brothers admitted that "they had been planning a terror attack in France for which they aspired to martyrdom," the PNAT stated. The men had been radicalized and exposed to "jihadist propaganda," the statement said.
An investigation was opened on Sunday into criminal conspiracy to commit terrorism, as well as the acquisition and carrying of weapons. The prosecutor's office has requested that the two brothers be charged and remanded in custody.
