France Arrests 10 People in Suspected Jihadist Network

Source: New York Times

PARIS — The French authorities arrested 10 people on Monday in a series of raids aimed at dismantling a recruitment and transportation network for would-be jihadists wanting to reach Syria, government officials said.

The arrests came amid worries in Western Europe that jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, especially the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, have grown increasingly effective at attracting foreign-born fighters.

Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, declined to provide details about the arrests but said they were made on charges of “conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism.”

In a statement congratulating police and intelligence services for the operation, Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, called the disrupting of jihadist networks an “absolute priority” for police and judicial authorities. He said that over 100 judicial proceedings involving nearly 500 people were currently underway.

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