Six men are due to appear before an investigating judge on Saturday over a suspected planned attack in Sarcelles, two weeks after weapons were found in a car in the Paris suburb.
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) said the men are suspected either of helping to transport the vehicle, which was discovered in Sarcelles on 11 July 2026, or of involvement in supplying or handing over the weapons.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the weapons found in the car included a machine gun. It has asked for the six men to be formally charged and placed in pre-trial detention.
The investigation began after France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, received a tip-off about a possible Islamist attack targeting a synagogue in Sarcelles, home to a large Jewish community.
That information led police in Val-d’Oise to locate the vehicle, which the prosecutor’s office said had been parked near a cinema and about 500 metres from a synagogue in the town.
An anti-terrorism investigation was then opened.
On 21 July 2026, eight men aged between 22 and 40 were arrested in the Paris region, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
A ninth man, aged 23, was also taken from his cell for questioning as part of a separate procedure.
After questioning, three of the men were released from police custody at this stage without charges, while the other six are being brought before an anti-terrorism investigating judge on Saturday.
