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Foiled attack: Chechen terrorist networks in the sights of investigators
Foiled attack: Chechen terrorist networks in the sights of investigators
(France 2)
An 18-year-old Chechen, suspected of preparing an attack during the Olympic Games, was arrested on Friday May 31. For several months, Chechnya has been in the sights of anti-terrorist intelligence services.
An 18-year-old man from Chechnya was planning an attack near the Saint-Étienne stadium (Loire). However, he is not the first Chechen national to appear in a terrorist case. Since 2018, three attacks have been perpetrated by Caucasians, a murder in the heart of Paris and the assassinations of professors Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard. According to our information, at least eight Caucasians have already been involved in attacks in France and more than 180 have been reported for radicalization.
Among them, intelligence is finding more and more young men born in France and radicalized online via social networks and encrypted messaging. These profiles are sometimes influenced by their families and friends. Their radicalization is sometimes undetectable. Some of them are linked to a branch of the Islamic State group active in Central Asia and the Caucasus. A movement which notably claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack last March in a concert hall.
Young Caucasians living in France have access to a lot of propaganda content and are easily contacted by Islamist preachers on the other side of the world. In the foiled attack in Saint-Étienne, the suspect was indicted for terrorist association and imprisoned.
