2 men were arrested on Saturday evening near the well-known Foire du Trône in Paris. They were in possession of home-made explosives, police sources revealed on Sunday. According to sources close to the case, there is no terrorist link to the case at this stage, but investigators are looking into the two men’s motivations. They claim to be “apprentice chemists”.
The incident took place a little before 8pm on Saturday, on the outskirts of the Paris funfair in the Bois de Vincennes. According to police sources, the fair was under close surveillance as part of the Vigipirate plan. It has, after all, been just three months since the Paris attacks that left 17 dead. The two men aged 24 and 32, were spotted by police due to “suspicious behaviour”. One of them was getting a bag out of a car, and he seemed to be handling it carefully. After searching it, police found the bag contained two jars full filled with 285 grams of explosives. The nature of the substance “has yet to be determined”, according to the police Prefecture.
According to a police source, the home-made explosive is acetone peroxide. It can be made from products that are easy to buy, and is a powerful but extremely unstable explosive. One of the suspects lives near where the arrest took place. A police source told us the two men are known to police for “petty crimes” and “traffic offenses”. One of them claims to be Buddhist. Buddhist literature was found at his home during a search, a source close to the case added.
(Source: Belga)
