France foils two Olympic terror attack plots
France has thwarted two separate terror attack plots targeting the Olympics, the Daily Telegraph reports, citing the government.
Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said that police carried out “several arrests” in two separate cases.
“In recent days, we have not made it public because we are in an election campaign, but we have arrested people who may have planned and put terrorist attacks into place,” Mr Darmanin said in an interview with French news channel BFM TV on Friday morning.
“They are being handed over to the justice services at this very moment”, he added.
The terrorist threat in France remains “extremely high”, the interior minister continued, in the lead-up to Bastille Day celebrations on July 14 and the Olympic games which open on July 26.
France has been under its highest terror alert since March, after the terrorist attack, claimed by Islamic State, which killed 145 people at a Russian concert hall.
Following that attack, Mr Darmanin announced: “In view of the Islamic State’s claim to responsibility for the attack and the threats facing our country, we have decided to raise the Vigipirate posture to its highest level: urgence attentat.”