By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
French police have foiled a planned attack on churches in Paris, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Wednesday.
A 24-year-old male IT student was arrested on Sunday in possession of “several military weapons,” Cazeneuve said in a press briefing in Paris. He said the attacks would have targeted “one or two churches.”
"On Sunday morning in the 13th arrondissement of Paris the police discovered an arsenal in his car and at his home composed of several military weapons," the minister said, referring to a district on the Left Bank of the Seine.
According to Cazeneuve, the arrest was made by chance after the suspect, who apparently accidently shot himself in the leg, called for an ambulance pretending to be the victim of a robbery.
At the scene, medics realized it was a gunshot wound and notified police who came and followed the traces of blood back to his car where they found "a loaded Kalashnikov, three loaders, a pistol, a revolver, bulletproof jackets, laptops, mobile phone and GPS," according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.
Molins said: “The suspect told investigators that “he had accidently shot himself in the leg when he tried to throw weapons into Seine River."
"Since then, the suspect has remained in complete silence, invoking his right to silence," said Molins.
The prosecutor said the suspect, who was not named, gave "fanciful statements" that contradicted evidence collected by forensics police.
He added that documents referring Al Qaeda and Daesh were seized in his dorm room.
"He was in contact with another person in Syria with whom he exchanged details of the attacks… he asked him to target a church," Molins explained.
Interior Minister Cazeneuve said the suspect was known to the intelligence services after he made inquiries about travelling to Syria and was placed under surveillance last year.
The man came to France from Algeria and came to France in 2009 to join up with other members of his family who were already in the country.
He is also a suspect in the killing a young female fitness instructor in the southern Parisian suburb of Villejuif on Sunday, said Molins.
He added that she was found in the passenger seat of her car.
"She received one shot in the shoulder that passed through the heart and left her dead," Molins said.
Reacting to the arrest, French President Francois Hollande called for "vigilance."
"We must always improve our intelligence capabilities," Hollande said in a press conference.
"A bill is under discussion and I hope it will be adopted," he added, referring to controversial bill – to be voted on May 5 - which aims to bolster the capabilities of French intelligence services.
Earlier, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France was facing an "unprecedented terrorist threat."
"Terrorists are targeting France to divide us and our response must of course be to protect citizens but also to rally together, unite and to be hugely determined in dealing with the terrorist threat," Valls told reporters.
