Suspect planned hostage-taking in synagogue

The suspect admitted to having gone to a synagogue on July 16 with the intention of taking hostages, but a gendarmerie patrol that was near the scene dissuaded him from doing so.

The man suspected of attacking a taxi driver in Le Mans (Sarthe) on the night of July 16-17 was planning to take hostages in a synagogue, franceinfo learned on Friday August 9 from a source close to the case, confirming information from BFMTV.

Investigators were able to exploit the suspect’s phones. In particular, they came across searches carried out by the thirty-year-old highlighting a fascination with terrorists who had committed violent acts in France. A video was also found showing him while he was in the victim’s taxi, this source told franceinfo.

During his hearings, the suspect admitted to having gone to a synagogue on July 16 with the intention of committing a hostage-taking there, but a gendarmerie patrol that was near the scene dissuaded him from doing so. The individual also confided that he had other attack plans in mind, such as taking hostages at the Socopa agri-food company located near La Ferté-Bernard (Sarthe). While in police custody, he claimed to be an Islamic State soldier. As for the video found on his phone, he admitted that it was a video pledging allegiance to Daesh. Furthermore, he said that he had become radicalized in prison through contact with other radicalized inmates.

The man was released from the Alençon-Condé-sur-Sarthe prison on June 26, where he had been detained for almost three years serving sentences for common law offences. “During his detention, he developed a radical ideology leading to his being taken into care in a violent radicalisation prevention unit”the prosecution said.

On July 16, armed with two firearms, ammunition, a knife and a butcher’s knife, he called a taxi. At gunpoint, he demanded that the taxi driver drive him to an isolated location in La Ferté-Bernard. He then fled in the vehicle before abandoning it in La Ferté-Bernard. He then took a train to Yvelines, where a friend, with whom he had been in contact for several years and who seemed to share his ideology, took him in, including finding him a place to hide. It was in this apartment in Poissy (Yvelines) that he was arrested on the night of July 18 to 19.

The 30-year-old man was charged with “arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, sequestration or detention in connection with a terrorist enterprise”, “attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise”, “armed robbery in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and “terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more crimes against persons”. He was placed in pre-trial detention. Three other people, another man and two women, are also charged in this case. The man was placed in pre-trial detention, one of the two women as well, the other is under judicial supervision.